


All I want for Christmas

by Glowcloudwasright



Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Human AU, I will post a note on the chapters when it happens, Kind of a slowburn, Mr. And Mrs. Blight appear at some points, rated teen for cursing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:41:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 32,355
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27909148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glowcloudwasright/pseuds/Glowcloudwasright
Summary: Christmas time in the city was an interesting time. Some would say there were really only two types of people who took time out of their life to make it interesting. Those who loved it and those who hated it. What happens when they collide?
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Emira Blight/Viney
Comments: 47
Kudos: 167





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's Christmas!!! or, kind of, but I definitely wanted to write something Christmasy for these two, so here's hoping. Hope you enjoy it!

**December 12th, nighttime.**

Christmas time in the city was an interesting time. Some would say there were really only two types of people who took time out of their life to make it interesting. 

First, there were the people who enjoyed everything this time of the year had to offer, how the cold air prompted you to enter a cozy coffee shop for a cup of hot chocolate or to snuggle closer to a fluffy scarf; how you could hear bells and out of tune caroling and the laughter of children everywhere while being blinded by the multicolored lights and the storefront displays at every corner, while on the lookout for that perfect gift for that special someone.

Then there are the people who simply put, hated it. Those who hated all the rush and extreme consumerism of the holidays. Some who didn’t really have anyone to spend the holidays with, or worse, had to spend them with some displeasing company. People who much preferred to be excluded from the incessant and repetitive Christmas songs resounding at every store and from all the exhausting decorating and shopping.

Amongst the latter group of people was Amity Blight. 

Another normal 16-year-old girl walking through the city to the eyes of any passerby, but the scowl on her face was much too apparent. She wasn’t too fond of the holidays herself, rather she hated them. She hated how she was supposed to put on a happy face and participate in whatever networking holiday event her parents launched her into along with her siblings, like figurines on display, only to be left to their own devices on Christmas morning and every other day. 

Her older siblings, Edric and Emira, didn’t seem to mind that much, or at least they weren’t as vocal about it. They enjoyed the holidays, mostly the copious amounts of shopping and parties involved, but still. 

And that’s how Amity ended up in the middle of the downtown Christmas market, the epitome of everything she hated about this time of the year, being dragged around by the twins from stand to stand and carrying bags bursting with their latest finds.

“C’mon, Mittens. Lighten up! Buy a new book or something.” Edric said as he eyed yet another handmade scarf from a stand.

“Yeah, drink some cocoa. It’s Christmas after all.” Emira added, leaning on her shoulder and looking up at the Christmas lights above them.

Amity simply shook her away, straightening her jacket.

“It’s December 12th, it’s hardly Christmas.” She said, annoyance laced in her voice.

Normally Amity chose to spend her days studying or simply reading away at the library; she felt most comfortable amongst books, not people, especially not her eggnog and cocoa drunk siblings. But it was the holiday break and they were all back home, so the twins were more than ready to bug her yet again, be it with one of their immature pranks or simply to drag her along on whatever they had set their minds to that evening. 

“Grinch.” Edric said and Emira snickered.

By now Amity had had enough of dealing with them, so she set some of the bags she was carrying on the ground and walked away from her siblings, who were much too distracted by a jewelry vendor to notice.

Amity sighed deeply, allowing the cold air to fill up her lungs and calm her down. Her siblings weren’t bad per se, but their number one hobby was to annoy Amity, and they always succeeded. 

The Christmas market was obviously not her favorite place in the city. The over the top consumption and reckless abandon of the people everywhere was one of the things Amity hated the most about the holidays. Everything was about buying big for cheap prizes gifts for people who would probably forget all about them the next morning. Call her a Grinch if you want, but Amity knew deep down she was right about opting out of the tiresome customs.

At least there was one good thing about the Christmas market: the hot coca vendors. The smell had been driving Amity insane from the moment they had set foot at the square, but her siblings' slow pace to look at every possible stand had made it impossible for her to get a cup.

Amity never had that much of a sweet tooth, but a hot cup of dark chocolate could always lift her spirits. None of that mint, cream, garnish nonsense. Just plain chocolate, sometimes maybe marshmallows, if she was feeling daring. 

The young girl finally had her cup of chocolate and a few moments of peace to herself, so she decided to walk around for a bit, see what all the fuss was about. Sadly, her peace didn’t last long, being much too distracted by the noises and paraphernalia around her, she failed to see the girl on a serious holiday rush who came crashing into her, sending her to the ground, along with the decorations the girl had been carrying. And her cup of chocolate, that too.

In a matter of seconds, Amity ended up sitting on the cold ground, her favorite coat and shirt damp and warm with a huge chocolate stain right in the middle. Christmas decorations and glitter lay scattered all around her. 

“Ugh, what the hell?!” Amity growled, standing up and inspecting the stains on her clothes. She was sure her face was absolutely red in anger, at least judging by the way some passerby’s looked at her,

“Sorry! I’m so sorry!” The girl apologized, barely audibly as she rushed to gather her things.

No wonder this girl hadn’t seen her, she was carrying about her own weight in Christmas decorations.

“Are you okay?” She asked and Amity looked up for the first time, to find a girl around her age, with short brown hair, tan skin and bright brown eyes. She was also wearing the ugliest Christmas sweater Amity had seen in her life and a beanie with cat ears.

“Well, no.” Amity snapped back. “My shirt is ruined, not to mention my coat!” She growled, trying to wipe some of the chocolate away, to no avail.

“I’m sure it’ll come out with some soap.” The girl said with a big goofy grin. Amity truly couldn’t decipher if she was mocking her or if she was being serious. 

Either way, the green-haired girl wouldn’t dignify that with an answer, so she simply groaned again and threw her hands to her sides, ready to make the walk back to her siblings and hopefully bring this evening to an end.

“Wait, wait.” The voice of the girl called for her and she hesitantly stopped for a second. Before she could say anything, the girl was practically on her face and pulling something out of her pockets. “I think I have some napkins. Let me help.” 

Help wasn’t exactly correct. Once the girl pulled her hands out of her pockets no napkins made their way out, but a bunch of stray glitter did, landing on Amity’s already ruined clothes.

“Oops.” Was all the other girl said, looking at the mess with a sheepish smile and very much ashamed.

“” Oops?!” Are you serious?! Who even are you?!” Amity yelled. She was very much at her wit's end. 

“Oh right. My name’s Luz-” The girl straightened herself and offered a glitter-covered hand towards Amity, who only eyed it for a second before smacking it away. 

The short-haired girl went from ashamed to seriously scared, for which Amity almost felt bad. Almost. 

“I don’t care.” Amity answered sharply. 

With that she simply turned around and went back where she had come from, hoping to find her siblings soon enough. 

  
  
  
  


“Whoa. What happened to you?” Emira asked her once she noticed the huge chocolate stain on her clothes and the frown on her sister’s face.

“Did bwaby Mwittens had a wittle accident?” Edric mocked her, which only managed to further Amity’s anger.

Once he tried to reach for her cheeks to annoy her some more Amity swatted at him, making him yelp and hold his hand in pain. Amity had some serious strength in that little body. 

Emira settled for laughing at them, nearly out of breath.

“Can we leave already? I need to change.” Amity said, crossing her arms and still pouting.

“Alright, alright,” Emira said, wiping away a tear. Man, was that a good laugh. “I’ll call us an uber.”

“Should we grab some dinner first?” Edric asked, and then again, Amity slapped him across the arm.

“No!” She yelled at him and there went Emira, laughing again. 


	2. Chapter 2

December 12th, morning.

“All I want for Christmaaaaas, is youuuuuuu~” 

An out of tune rendition of “All I want for Christmas is you” was the first sound Eda heard once she opened her eyes, much too early to her liking. 

Eda stepped out of her room with tired eyes and scratching her back to find Luz blasting Christmas music while hanging what appeared to be decorations at every possible surface. King simply ran around with her, every so often eyeing the twinkling decorations and howling along to the songs.

“Morning, Eda!” The cheery girl called. She was too much of an early bird for Eda to keep up with.

“Morning, kiddo.” Eda said, eyeing the boxes full of decorations that towered in her living room. Where did she even get these things? Eda never decorated for the holidays. “What’s all this?”

“Oh I went out and found some decorations for sale. Aren’t they cool?” Luz held up proudly her most recent discovery, a plastic bass that moved and sang “Blue Christmas” in a baritone voice. Everything made more sense once Eda noticed most of the stuff was either broken or as weird as that Elvis singing bass. 

“This guy’s a riot!” Luz said while laughing and hanging the plastic bass on top of the living room chimney. 

Eda couldn’t help the smile that crept on her face. Luz had really grown on her from her time staying at her home, and well, as weird as she could be, weirdos have to stick together, right? 

“Did you call your mom today?” Eda asked while making her way to the kitchen, glad to find her morning coffee already warm in her mug.

“For a bit, she had to rush to work.” Luz said, still focused on her decorating.

Eda only hummed in response, sipping her coffee. Sure Luz was staying with her because of a weird twist of fate, but she still had to be responsible and make sure she filled her mom up from time to time. 

“We’re decorating the store today too, right?” Luz turned her attention back to Eda, who only sighed.

“For the hundredth time, yes. But no tinsel, that stuff gets everywhere.” Eda sipped on her coffee again.

That was enough for Luz to let out an excited squeal, she loved decorating.  
“Got any plans for today?” Eda asked, now that Luz had settled down to have some breakfast.

“I’ll meet with Gus and Willow downtown to do some Christmas shopping. Why? Do you need help at the store?” 

Eda chuckled in response, Luz was always so willing to help, and even though Eda joked about that being Luz’ way of paying rent for staying at the flat, she never really meant it. Having Luz helping out at the store was a fun twist on the usually dull routine.

“It 's okay, kid. Just checking on ya. Stop by before closing time so we can get decorating though.” 

Luz gave her a mock salute in response, muttering something unintelligible from a mouthful of pancakes. 

After finishing her plate and making sure to give Eda and King a big hug goodbye, Luz dashed out the door, fighting the cold with her favorite Christmas sweater and a jacket. The distant sound of caroling and bells while she strolled through the streets made her smile, this was definitely her favorite time of the year. Every corner was simply bursting with life and this was set to be the best Christmas of her 16 years of life. 

Something seemed to tug at her heartstrings after that thought and a frown found its place on Luz’s face. She suddenly felt guilty, mostly because this was going to be her first Christmas away from her mom. 

See, Luz was in the city and therefore with Eda because she was supposed to be starting a new semester at a very prestigious high school there, Hexside Academy, one of the top schools in the country. It was an amazing opportunity to be there, accepted on a full scholarship and not being expelled before even beginning due to a wacky incident thanks to her friends and well, Eda. 

Since neither she nor her mother knew anyone in the city, attending the school had proven to be a challenge, but her mother fought tooth and nail for her daughter to go there, to have a fresh new start. Principal Hyeronimous Bump, the headmaster at Hexside, had met with Luz for a customary interview for the candidates of the scholarship and had offered to sign Luz up on an exchange program, claiming he had “the perfect host in mind.” 

One meeting with a seemingly reluctant Eda and copious amounts of paperwork later and Luz was residing in Eda’s flat, a few blocks away from school. Although reluctant at first, Luz eventually became an essential part of The Owl House and of Eda’s life. She tutored her on some subjects so Luz would be ready to start the new semester after the holiday break and in return, Luz would help out at the store and run some errands for her. Luz was also convinced that Eda was some sort of witch, but that was a theory still in the works.

And so, Luz found herself miles away from her old home, sprinting through town being unapologetically herself, without anyone judging her or whispering behind her back. Having lived more adventures in the past months than in her short life and about to share another afternoon with her friends, her first real friends. Sure, she missed her mom everyday… but she was happy.

Luz hadn’t realized she had reached the place where she would meet with Willow and Gus until a couple of familiar voices called for her, snapping Luz out of her thoughts. Looking up at the front of the huge department store were her two best friends, Willow and Gus, waving at her and running to meet her. Luz could go back to her thoughts later, right now, it was time for Christmas shopping.

“Hey Guys!” Luz waved back.

The trio hugged before rushing to the inside of the store, trying to escape the cold air on the street. They had met months before, around the time Luz had come to town, while the fall semester had started but Luz was still catching up with some material before officially joining the classes, and so, after an incident involving her, Willow, Gus, and a failed chemistry experiment which resulted on a classroom filled with purple goo and a visit from the fire department to Hexside, they had become inseparable. 

“So yeah, my grandma is coming tomorrow to spend Christmas with us. What do you guys have planned?” Asked Willow while the group eyed the products on display. 

“My pops and I are meeting with all my uncles and aunts for Christmas Eve.” Gus answered, and Luz seemed to slump a little.

“It’ll just be me and Eda. My mom won’t be able to come after all.” Luz said.

The news had come a few days ago while she talked on the phone with her mom. She knew from the moment she had reached the city that there was a big possibility that her mom wouldn't be able to visit or that they wouldn’t have enough money for Luz to go back home for a few days, since it was so far away and her mom always worked long shifts at the hospital during the holidays.

Luz went quiet fast, and Willow seemed to pick up on that.

“Hey, you and Eda could come to my house for Christmas dinner. I’m sure my dads would love to have you two, and King.” Willow said in her characteristic sweet tone.

Luz smiled in exchange, thankful for the invitation. “Thanks, Willow. I’ll talk to Eda, I don’t even know if she’s got something planned.”

“And stand you up on Christmas?” Gus asked, earning a hard nudge on the ribs from Willow for his lack of touch.

Luz simply chuckled at that. Eda and she had already talked about some plans for the holiday season once she knew she wouldn’t be able to go back with her mom for the holidays. Eda wasn’t really one to celebrate anything in particular, at least not the traditional way, but she made her best effort to go along with whatever Luz would plan, starting with a customary Christmas Eve dinner, most likely of chinese take out, but still dinner. 

The time went by pretty quickly and the trio had found most of the things they were looking for and then some. 

It was already dark out, but Luz hadn’t noticed how late it was until she checked her phone. It was almost closing time at most stores, including the bookstore and there was still an important piece of decoration that was missing. A set of stockings to hang at the chimney, one for each inhabitant of The Owl House.

This was a tradition she had inherited from her mom. Everybody in the house must have a stocking hanging somewhere, to be filled with a little detail to be found on Christmas morning. Sure, at her house it was usually just her and her mom's stockings, but it was still special. 

This year, Luz had gone above and beyond and found stockings for King, Owlbert and even Willow and Gus, who spent most of their free time hanging at the store with her. There was still one little detail missing, her and Eda’s stockings.

She still had time, since stores decided to close later than usual for the holiday rush, but Eda had no such interests, and closing time would be in about 20 minutes. 

Willow and Gus had to go back home, and so Luz was standing in the middle of the city, carrying about her own weight on cheap decorations and other finds. A distant sight caught her eye, the lights and colorful stands of the Christmas market on 3rd Avenue.

“Perfect!” Luz said, making a run for it. She could take a shortcut through the square and most likely find the missing stockings for her and Eda.

Immediately upon entering the open square a million sounds and smells filled Luz’s senses. The smell of hot cocoa and pine needles, the sound of children playing and people laughing, the bright Christmas lights hanging from every possible surface. If only she had some more time she would explore the whole thing herself, but she was on a mission. Also, her arms were getting tired. 

Some would say Luz was easily distracted, add to that the fact that she was in the middle of one of the biggest Christmas markets in town and how her vision was being seriously restricted by a mountain of bags and boxes of cheap decorations.

Inevitably she crashed and shoved a few people between the sea of masses strolling the narrow trails of the square, trying her best to apologize to everyone on the way. Suddenly, when she thought she was finally nearing the edge of the market, everything came crashing down. Literally, as she had crashed into someone, sending some of the remnants of the decorations flying and crashing herself against the cold ground. 

“Ugh, what the hell?!” The voice of a girl growled at her.

Luz’s body ached once she crashed against the concrete, not to mention a few boxes of ornaments had fallen on top of her, but she didn’t really pay attention to it once she saw the angry girl next to her, clutching her chocolate stained shirt. The vein on her neck was sure to pop any time now.

“Sorry! I’m so sorry!” Luz did her best to apologize while picking up her stuff, she didn’t want any more incidents after all. 

However, this girl didn’t seem to care for apologies that much.

Understandable, actions speak louder than words, and so Luz thought it would be best to help her, she had some spare napkins from lunch after all… And, wrong pocket, she had kept a stray package of glitter in there, which was now all over this poor girl.

Luz felt terrible, she didn’t mean to make that much of a mess and the crowd her little misfortune had attracted certainly wasn’t helping. She couldn’t really blame this girl for reacting like that, although the deadly look she shot her and the way she smacked her hand when trying to introduce herself was certainly scary. Her eyes were really pretty though, she wondered for a second if she should’ve mentioned it.

With not much of a word the mysterious angry girl turned around and got lost in the crowd, leaving Luz standing there, clutching at her hand and still frozen in place. That girl really was intimidating.

The whispers and judgemental looks of the people around her snapped Luz back to reality. 

“Sorry! Happy Holidays!” Luz apologized, picking her stuff quickly and dashing down the path and around a corner. 

Shifting quickly between stands and making huge efforts to forget all about that embarrassing incident, Luz finally found a perfect stocking for Eda. A one of a kind yarn stocking, mostly simple and elegant with the cute image of two glasses of eggnog and a martini clinking, on top it read “Mommas Christmas cheer”. It was bold and probably not work environment appropriate, but so was Eda, not to mention exactly the kind of humor the older woman appreciated. 

“Now I only need mine…” Luz muttered to herself, until she turned her attention to a nearby street clock placed by a park bench. 

She was super late. 

The brown-haired girl let out a short panic squeal and turned around on her heels to run, hopefully in the direction of The Owl House. 


	3. Chapter 3

**December 15th, morning.**

“Wakey wakey, baby sister!” 

“Wake up, Mittens!”

Amity groaned at the sound of her siblings’ voices, waking her up much too early for her liking. 

It seemed like the twins had invited themselves inside her room, since Emira comfortably sat down by the foot of the bed and Edric went to open the curtains, the sunrays instantly hitting Amity in the face and making her groan louder.

“What do you two want?” Amity complained, trying to cover her face with her pillow to muffle the voices of her brother and sister. 

“Mom and dad sent us to wake you up. We have to find clothes for tonight’s gala.” Emira explained, pulling out her phone and disinterestedly playing with her hair while doing so.

Edric occupied himself looking around Amity’s room, moving every single thing within his reach out of place. 

They clearly weren’t going anywhere until their sister stood up to get ready. Amity tensed up at her sister's words; she had forgotten all about her parent’s gala. One of the many, many social events they planned around the year, most of them around the holidays, and as usual, all the Blight children had to be there, in their best attire and displaying their best fake smiles. They all loathed it, but especially Amity.

The youngest Blight took a deep breath and sat up at her bed. Emira seemed to have read her mind, or at least her expression.

“C’mon. We can get some coffee before.” The older Blight sister said with a smile, standing up and dragging Edric along, leaving Amity alone to get ready. 

She appreciated her sister’s efforts to make her feel better. Sure, they’ll annoy her for the rest of the day, but at least there would be coffee. 

"Ugh, that was so boooring." Edric groaned as the siblings descended the steps of the building where the gala had been held, an old renowned museum of the city. 

Although only Amity had found it in the least bit interesting; for her parents, it was just another way of showing off their status, for her siblings it was just another game of who could get an olive to land inside the ancient goblets on display.

The oldest Blight untied his black bowtie in one brute movement and proceeded to throw it away at a nearby bin while massaging his neck. 

"This thing was killing me." He complained. 

Amity only rolled her eyes, while Emira paid no attention to him, only humming in response as she tapped away on her phone. 

Like instructed, the siblings had gone and found outfits around the shade of red her mother indicated. The coffee Emira had promised helped at least take Amity’s mind away from the fact they weren’t even allowed to pick their own clothes color for the event.

Emira settled on a strapless red dress, now covered under her black overcoat to fend off the winter cold. Edric decided on a dark red suit jacket over a plain white dress shirt and black pants, a bowtie added by her mother to make him look more “presentable”. Amity hadn’t paid much attention to the clothing choice, mostly made by Emira, of a white blouse and a red skirt, not to mention another uncomfortable pair of red heels that were most likely going to end up buried deep inside her closet. A winter coat hung loosely around her shoulders, not her favorite coat of course, nope, that one was still at the cleaners, who couldn’t really guarantee Amity that the huge chocolate stain from days ago could come out.

Not only was picking clothes a nuisance but like the other many events the siblings had been forced to attend, this one had been pure torture. Long hours of playing the role of the perfect family, being introduced to a wide array of diplomats, government officials, and general businessmen whose names they had forgotten after about five minutes of conversation, add to that being forced to mingle with their annoying kids.

At least they were free now, on account that their parents had basically abandoned them to go have drinks with other high-end capitalists. 

Emira finally looked up from her phone and smiled brightly. "Well, now that that's over. Bye!"

Amity turned to look at her sister, surprise drew on her face as she walked away towards the street, Edric following as he ruffled the gel off of his hair. 

"What? Where are you going?" Amity asked, fairly angry. 

An uber quickly rolled up to the curve in front of them. "To a party on the Eastside." Emira answered simply. 

Amity only crossed her arms and stared them down.

Ed and Em stopped on their tracks, much too familiar with that stare. "C'mon Mittens, don't look at us like that. Mom and dad already left and you can call a car to go home." Emira said, matching her sister's stance.

"Yeah, besides you hate parties." Edric added nonchalantly. 

"Ugh, whatever." Amity snapped back, turning around and walking away. 

"Be safe!" Edric called from the uber. 

"Have fun with your books!" Emira added, just to get that last rise out of her, but Amity didn't acknowledge them. 

She was furious, basically stranded in the middle of the city, watching as the last few people left the gala. She considered the obvious for a second, calling a car to take her home and turn in for the night, she could finally finish her new book, have the house to herself for a few hours, but her sibling’s words echoed inside her mind.

_ Have fun with your books! _

_ You hate parties. _

Amity groaned yet again, deciding to walk down the sidewalk to calm herself down. Sure, she wasn’t really the going-out-a-lot type and she certainly had no interest in attending one of her siblings’ friend’s parties, but she didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of being right either. Everyone seemed to have something else to do, so she could find something to do too. How hard could it be?

The green-haired girl scrolled through her contacts, trying to find something to do. Most of her friends, if one could call them that, were already at the gala and either left with their families or left for some other commitment. Boscha had mentioned a party afterwards, but it sounded so dull that Amity had basically muffled every sound that came out the girl's mouth after the word "party". She wanted to prove a point, not waste a couple of extra hours of her life with a bunch of stuck up kids. 

Not long after, she had scrolled through her entire list of contacts, no plans in mind whatsoever. 

Amity looked up from her phone with a sigh and suddenly noticed she was away from the bustling sounds around the museum and inside a park, only recognizable by the statue of a three-faced woman that always caught her eye. She had wandered back that square on 3rd Avenue, although she almost didn’t recognize it now that the Christmas market had been put away, the multicolor lights from the stands being replaced with golden fairy lights hanging around the huge trees. 

The city outside was busy, chaotic, but inside the park seemed like a completely different world. Couples strolled around, huddled close for warmth and people sat at the benches to drink cocoa, like they didn’t have a care in the world.

This was much more to Amity’s liking. No holiday rush, no pressure, no commitments or fronts to maintain. 

She could walk down this road all night. And she would have, if she hadn’t ended up at the other end of the square after some time, tall green trees meeting concrete and busy streets again. 

Well, she was already there, maybe she could explore around for a bit. Crossing the street Amity noticed how the tall skyscrapers became small buildings, similar brick and cladding and cozy insides of stores or decorated apartments. 

She looked around, readying her mind to turn back and finally head home, she didn’t really know this part of town anyway, when a seemingly inconspicuous building caught her eye. It was similar to every other building lining the street, but an unusual golden owl door knocker on the front door caught Amity’s eye. It almost looked alive, ready to burst out of the door. Amity even imagined it talking in an annoying high-pitched voice, and the silly thought made her smile slightly and scoff. 

Taking a closer look at the particular door she noticed the intricate pattern on it, which almost looked like an eye at the very center. Amity wasn’t particularly interested in the local architecture, but she had never seen a door like that one before. 

Another look at the peculiar building and she turned her attention to the display window next to it, almost dull compared to how the stores made sure their products stood out in the crowd around the holidays. It only displayed a few trinkets and latest books from authors she didn’t recognize, decorated at the top with old letters on an intricate art nouveau font which read “The Owl House - Bookstore and Antique Shop.” 

The lights inside the store were on, but it looked mostly empty, with only a few patrons browsing through the bookshelves. She usually wouldn’t enter a place like that, basically lost in a part of town she barely recognized, but it was still early, so she considered following Emira’s advice and find herself a new book, an early Christmas gift if you will.

The winter air was cold in the street, but inside the bookstore was warm and cozy, and Amity allowed herself to relax for the first time that day. 

One would think the place was yet another small hole-in-the-wall of a bookstore, but if you were lucky enough to stumble upon it, you would find yourself surrounded by its huge inside, dimly lit with warm light and smelling like fresh coffee and books. The place was decorated with a wide array of trinkets, owl-themed decor and mismatched furniture, even it’s own fireplace, and of course, stands of books that extended well past Amity’s height and deeper and deeper into the building. A few decorations here and there for the sake of tradition, not really sticking to a theme, from red bows to a tiny nativity scene and a menorah by the window, nothing too tacky either, which Amity appreciated.

The spiral staircase by the back revealed yet another floor, filled with even more books and reading areas, and while the other floors were restricted only to the store tenders, Amity then wondered just how much of the building belonged to that fantastic bookstore and what other wonders it contained. If she didn’t know any better she would say the place was magical.

“Welcome!” An older woman greeted her from her place by the counter, using the fake cheery tone of a professional seller. 

This was none other than Eda Clawthorn, the owner of the store and therefore nicknamed “The Owl Lady”. If Amity thought the place was quirky it was nothing compared to its owner. Eda herself would guarantee you had never met anyone like her. She was a tall, slim woman, probably in her early forties but already sporting a full gray-white mane and a golden tooth. Her signature red dress caught the eye of anyone when she strolled through the city and it wasn’t hard to guess the faux fur coat by the register was hers too.

“A potential customer!” She called. “Whatcha looking for, kid?”

Eda was loud, lively, sassy and rumor had it, also a wanted criminal in some states, but she seemed nice, even if the only thing Amity knew about her was that she was just trying to sell her something.

Amity stepped further into the store, eyeing the bookshelves around her. “Just browsing.” She said, in her usual monotone voice. 

She stepped closer to a nearby bookshelf and reached out for the book in front of her, however, she was suddenly met with an obstacle by her feet, a very fluffy obstacle, in the form of a small black dog with a white face that resembled a skull. Its sharp prominent teeth would have been intimidating if it wasn’t for its size and pitchy bark.

Amity jumped back in surprise and the dog barked at her nonstop as if it was complaining about the sudden interruption to his nap.

“Shut up already, King!” Eda yelled, making her way from the counter over to the dog to pet his head and calm him down.

Amity was surprised enough about the dog lying in the middle of the store until she heard a distant hooting coming from somewhere. Surely a radio or background noise from the store, until the flapping of small wings revealed a tiny brown owl that came flying from the back of the store, only to land on Eda’s shoulder. The older woman didn’t seem bothered or even surprised by it, still petting King to keep him away from the customers. 

Amity simply stood there, staring at the tiny animal perched on Eda’s shoulders with big eyes that resembled the creature’s.

Eda seemed to catch up on the girl's surprise, which made her snort.

“This is Owlbert. This place isn’t called The Owl House for nothing.” She finished her sentence with a wink and the tiny owl hooted happily, likely agreeing with her.

Normally at this point, Amity would just turn around and leave, forgetting all about the strange store, diminishing it just another oddity the city had to offer, but something felt so nice and familiar about the place and its inhabitants that Amity couldn’t help but smile.

Eda disappeared back to the counter to tend to another customer, informing them of her strict no return policy, and since (thankfully) no other wild animals suddenly appeared from the back of the store, Amity went back to browsing the bookshelves. 

Everything seemed so disorganized at first glance, old hardcover books about history and alchemy next to paperback covers of self-help books or home decor magazines, but still, Amity managed to find some interesting titles. First editions of books she had only read about on niche blogs, less known works by renowned authors, and her favorite discovery, the biggest collection of fantasy books she had ever seen. 

She was amazed with this not-so-little nook of a bookstore she had just found, it didn’t really matter how strange it was, the green-haired girl considered getting lost among the towers of books and trinkets around the store and not coming out for a few days. 

Of course, Amity couldn’t really have that much of a moment of peace, being startled by a bunch of books falling down from the bookshelf behind her. The young girl had managed to choke down a scream of surprise at the sudden loud noises coming from behind her, but the sound of Eda’s voice kept her still in place, eyeing the piles of books laying there at her feet. 

“What the hell?” She said, rounding the corner of the bookshelf to find Amity standing there, clutching her book like a deer in the headlights, surrounded by a mess of books.

“I-it wasn’t me!” Amity cried.

Eda looked up from the mess confused.

“Huh? Of course not. Luz what did you do?!” With that Eda disappeared behind the bookshelf and Amity couldn’t help but follow to see exactly what had happened. 

“Sorry, Eda…” The voice of a girl called back. A voice she swore she recognized.

“Are you okay?” Eda asked the girl, but every other sound seemed muffled when Amity saw the scene before her. 

There, laying on the ground, covered in cheap Christmas lights and fake pine garlands was the girl from days ago. The one who had bumped into her at the Christmas market. Same short fluffy hair, same guilty brown eyes, same mess of Christmas decorations even. 

“I thought we could use a few garlands on top of the bookshelves.” The girl explained, her cheery demeanor back in place. So that’s what happened.

Eda sighed in response, but the smile on her face was much too apparent, especially when she bent down to ruffle Luz’s hair and help her stand up.

“Ugh.” Amity muttered to herself, remembering her dreadful first encounter with said girl. 

“Hey, it’s you.” The girl said once she turned her head slightly, just as Amity was leaving.

Amity stopped for a second, she had already turn around, so she could still escape. No looking back, despite knowing very well the girl had recognized her.

“Wait.” Luz called, shaking the tinsel and pine needles from her clothes as quickly as possible.

Just when Amity thought she had lost this girl by making a turn through the towering bookshelves she was met with Luz face to face. Brown eyes meeting hazel and a goofy grin smiling up at her. 

“I believe we’ve met before.” Luz said charmingly, with a tilt to her head that Amity thought for a second that reminded her of a puppy.

“I believe you ruined my favorite coat.” Amity answered coldly, grabbing her book tightly to her chest and turning around to leave. 

But Luz didn’t give up that easily. The universe was granting her a second chance to make things right with this girl, and by god would she make things right. 

Again, the brunette was blocking her path at the narrow aisle.

“I’m still so sorry about that.” Luz held her hands up for emphasis. “I believe we started with the wrong foot.” Much like the night they met, Luz extended her hand to Amity as a sign of peace, and much like that night, Amity simply smacked it away.

“You seem to believe a lot of things, then.” Amity said, again as coldly as she could. 

Normally that would be enough for people to leave her alone, so she was surprised when the girl started laughing softly.

But how could Luz not? This girl was super intimidating, yes, but that was clever.

What Luz only found charming, in a way at least, Amity simply found annoying.

“Did I say something funny?” Amity asked very much annoyed, raising an eyebrow and staring the girl down.

Luz’s smile fell and there was that guilt in her eyes again. She just couldn’t win with this girl huh? 

“No, no, not at all! I Mean- yes? It was kinda funny. Clever.” Luz tried to explain, very much aware that she was fidgeting with her hands but not really able to stop it.

Amity didn’t answer, she simply stared at her for a second, a stare completely unreadable to Luz, and just like that she turned around and she was gone.

Normally Luz would have just left the girl be; she knew when she wasn’t appreciated and this girl was making it way too obvious, but next thing she knows Amity is walking towards the checkout counter and Eda was still busy with a client, so she had to step in. It was her work after all. 

Amity looked around the empty area of the counter, unable to find Eda, pay for her book, and hopefully leave already, but once she turned back towards the register there was Luz, standing there with that same goofy grin.

“Hi again.” Luz said and Amity dragged a hand across her face in frustration, she was beyond anger at that point.

“You just show up everywhere? Are you freaking Droopy or something?” Amity roared and again the girl just laughed. Was she dumb or was she just not noticing Amity was trying to get her to leave her alone?

Luz tried to play off her laugh with a cough, noticing the girl was red in the face, most likely out of anger. 

“I’m sorry. I just really like how you talk.” Amity blinked in surprise a few times and felt an unfamiliar heat rise to her face. Did she just blush at that?

“But anyway,” Luz continued, hopefully she hadn’t noticed her blush. “Eda is kinda busy so I can ring you up.”

Luz’s smile now was soft, although still, a bit goofy Amity thought. 

She cleared her throat just to test if she was able to speak again after such embarrassment. “Alright.”

After pressing a few buttons and moving some stuff around, the register rang. Amity couldn’t remember the last time she heard a register ring, she didn’t know there were still ones that did that, everything was normally done with computers. 

“And your total would be 0 dollars with 0 cents.” Luz answered cheerily, handing Amity the book inside a brown paper bag and a receipt for 0 dollars which read “sorry about your coat <3 -Luz :)” at the bottom.

Amity stared at the receipt and the cashier back and forth; confused was an understatement.

“What?” She managed to blurt out. 

“‘Cause of your coat. It’s the least I can do.” Luz answered simply, her voice warm and honest. And there was that blush again.

“I couldn’t really-” Amity began, taking a few bucks from her purse, but Luz only shoved them back gently.

“Nope. I insist.” The brunette said, putting on a fake serious voice and Amity almost found herself laughing at that.

“Well… thank you, Luz.” Amity answered, the hint of a smile tugging at her lips. Maybe this girl wasn’t so bad, if she was so set on making things right with her, a perfect stranger. 

The thought only managed to confuse Amity.

“No problem.” Luz answered kindly. “Wait. You know my name?” She had just noticed what she said. So the girl had been paying some amount of attention to her.

That finally managed to get a laugh out of Amity, even if a small one, but she quickly played it off with a cough. Luz had still noticed though, so she smiled back. 

“It says so on the receipt.” Amity lied, she had remembered from that night at the market.

“Oh, right.” Luz chuckled awkwardly.

With that Amity grabbed the bag from the counter, although she still felt a little bad about taking the book free of charge, she certainly wasn’t short of money after all.

“Can I ask for your name?” Luz said, quieter this time, before Amity could turn around to leave, perhaps forever this time.

“Amity.” She answered, daring to look at Luz’s eyes for the first time since she got to the counter. Huge mistake, because those big brown eyes did something to her chest that made it tighten, not to mention that smile…

“I like it.” Luz answered like it was the most casual thing in the world. Amity could have probably said something, a thank you perhaps, for the book or for the compliment, but she didn’t trust her voice. 

However, she gave Luz one last smile and a small wave before turning around to leave. 

Once Amity was out of the store Luz jumped to sit on top of the counter, throwing her arms up.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah! I did it, King!” She cried, making a little dance that managed to wake King from his napping place beside her.

His yellow eyes looked up at her confused.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Odalia Blight makes her first appearance, as expected, she's a bitch.

**December 18th, late morning.**

Christmas was quickly coming up and with it the holiday rush around the city only seemed to grow even more chaotic. Inside The Owl House, Luz and Eda readied to open up shop for the day, sweeping and dusting off some things. Well, mostly Luz, Eda just sipped on her morning coffee while reading her book.

“You got any plans for today, kid?” Eda asked Luz from her place at the counter, while the girl swept away the entrance of the store.

“Not really, I think Gus and Willow are busy today. Why?” 

“We can close up early and go look for that dang stocking you wanted.” Eda said, managing to maintain her usual nonchalant demeanor. However, Luz was very much used to looking past that cold facade and simply beamed at the idea. 

Eda never looked up from her book, but the sound of the broom hitting the floor told her enough. In a matter of seconds, Luz was behind the counter, wrapping her arms tightly around the older woman.

“Yay Christmas plans!” Luz yelled, soon joined by King jumping into Eda’s lap, who was struggling to breathe. 

“Alright, alright.” She said, setting free from the hug. 

Luz resumed her sweeping, this time with a little more pep to it. Eda smiled fondly at the girl, proud to be able to make Christmas a little happier for her. Luz wouldn’t show it often, but she was missing her mom a lot.

“Alright, I’m taking King out for his walk. You’re in charge.” Eda stood up, followed by the old black dog who seemed to understand every word. 

“Have fun, you two.” Luz shot them both a wave from her place, now dusting off the chimney.

“And Luz.” Eda turned from the open door for a second, a grin on her face. “try not to gift any more of my books while you flirt with girls please.” Eda told Luz in that familiar teasing tone before stepping out.

Luz couldn’t see her anymore, but she was sure Eda was smirking from ear to ear. Just some of the teasing she had to endure daily. More so after that particular night. 

She would be lying if she said she hadn’t been thinking non stop about that mysterious girl anyway.

_ Amity.  _ She thought. She had been repeating that name inside her head for the past days. 

Lots of people entered the store every day, most of them Luz would see once and never again, the city was huge after all, so it was only logical that her chance encounter with Amity would be a one-time thing. That, however, didn’t stop Luz from hoping every time the door of The Owl House opened. 

She thought that maybe Amity would come back soon, she seemed so entranced by the fantasy books just a few days ago, or at least that's what Luz saw from between the books on the shelf, which ultimately made her lose her balance and fall, along with about 50 tomes on art history and economics. 

But then again, how much need for a book could one have after about three days of just buying one, or rather, receiving one. 

Luz had had that string of thought inside her mind since that night, perfectly valid reasons for why Amity could come back to the store versus completely adequate reasons why she wouldn't. It was getting annoying. 

The door of the bookstore suddenly swung open, letting the cold air enter the store, and again a little part of Luz hoped. But like every other time, it wasn’t the teal-haired girl. 

She could recognize that fish hook earring anywhere though. It was Viney.

“Hey, Luz!” The older girl greeted her. 

Viney was actually an ex alumnus from Hexside, full scholarship just like Luz. Now she was studying to become a veterinary at a college outside the city, but with the Holiday break, she was staying home, like the majority of students.

They had met weeks before, during one of Luz’s visits to Hexside to sort out paperwork and catch up with some material; meanwhile, Viney was struggling to get some paperwork done at the school administration. Luz had offered to help her, and after some less than legal scurrying around and a trip to the copy machine, Viney was all set with her paperwork and offering Luz some old study guides as a thank you. After she did the same for Viney’s friends, Jerbo and Barcus, Luz had come to find out they were actually pretty cool, keeping in contact and occasionally paying a visit at The Owl House.

“I think we just got that book on flightless birds you were looking for last time.” Luz commented while Viney was telling her about her first ridiculously stressful midterms. 

Luz rummaged through some boxes with books, while Viney helped her move the heavy stuff around making light conversation.

“So, you aren’t going home for the holidays?” Viney asked her. 

“Nah, you know how it is.” Luz answered simply, a slight bit of disappointment filtering through. But she knew Viney understood they had bonded about being the “scholarship kids” at Hexside, a school notoriously filled with rich kids. “Besides, Eda can’t live without me anymore!” Luz yelled that last part loud enough for Eda to hear her from the counter.

“HA!” Was all the older woman yelled back, making both teenagers laugh.

“Look what the cat dragged in. King’s favorite veterinary.” Eda greeted Viney as usual. 

It was actually funny how Eda found herself receiving teenagers left and right at The Owl House thanks to Luz. It had gone from the occasional Willow and Gus to every single misfit Luz happened to cross paths with and inevitably befriend. Luz always joked that Eda secretly liked being a mother figure to them all, which was true, but Eda would still deny it all with fake gagging noises. 

The two teenagers went on with their business of finding Viney’s book while making light conversation. 

“So… how are things going with that girl you told me about?” Luz asked Viney, wiggling her brows and making the older girl blush.

“Well…” Viney started, sounding unsure. “I was supposed to meet her at a party the other night. But I got so busy at home that I went to take a nap. I passed out and missed the whole thing.”

“Oh no! Did you call her or something?” Luz asked, taking her attention off the books for a second.

Some could say she sometimes got too invested in her friend’s lives, especially the romantic aspect, but she couldn’t help it! And if she could help that was all the better.

“I kind of texted her…?”

“Kind of?”

“”Sorry, haha, fell asleep.””

“Viney…” Luz scolded her, looking up from the pile of books again.

“I know it sounds like a lame excuse! But it's for the better, I think…” Viney then looked down, almost sounding sad.

“Why?!” Luz asked, sounding almost offended.

“‘Cause I’ve told you about her. She’s all prim and proper, high society. She was going to the party from a gala, Luz. A gala. We’re 19, who goes to galas?” Viney threw her arms up to emphasize her point.

Luz scratched her chin, thinking it over for a second. A gala did sound like a huge deal.

“That does sound fancy... But hey, she wanted to see you! I bet she doesn’t care about any of that stuff. And for what you told me she sounds like she really likes you.”

Viney went red at that comment. 

They had met again during spring break, when Viney was back at the city with her parents and so was this mysterious girl, who had apparently missed a flight for Cancún and actually recognized Viney, if only for that characteristic fish hook earring she always wore. By a weird chance of destiny, they had bumped into each other one day at a nearby coffee shop. 

“Gasp! coffee shop AU…” Luz whispered when Viney was telling her the story, not as she had understood much. 

Viney wasn’t much to flirt with strangers at a coffee shop, not like her stammering could have been much of a flirt, but they hit it off right away.

_ “I’m Emira.” _

_ “Viney! Me, Viney.” _

_ And then that angelic laugh. _

They had actually met before, or at least Viney had, everyone at school knew who the Blight siblings were, even if the twins themselves didn’t know or cared to know most of their classmates. 

After graduation Viney assumed she would never see any of her classmates again, with the exception of her friends and a few errant units, but to see Emira Blight again, and for her to actually acknowledge her existence? That was a surprise.

And so the girl had decided to miss Cancún and stay with Viney in the city. Every chance they got they would meet throughout the year, once or twice every two months when their schedules allowed. They weren’t a  _ thing _ per se, but there was something there. And that scared Viney senseless.

Now, with both of them in the city until January it was inevitable for them to meet, although Viney was very much avoiding it.

“Ha! Here it is!” Luz’ eureka moment snapped Viney back from her memories. She had found the book, not like Viney cared that much anymore.

A quick check out and some plans to meet again before Christmas, and Viney was out of the store, leaving Luz at the counter sighing and hugging her trusty broom.

“Don’t you just love Christmas, Eda?”Luz asked dreamily, to a very much confused Eda.

“No.” Eda deadpanned. 

“But it’s the most romantic time of the year! Everything seems so magical and anything could happen!” Luz argued. 

“No.” Eda said again, eyeing Luz like she had just grown a second head. 

Luz only pouted and resumed her sweeping.

Whatever. This was still and would always be her favorite time of the year. Precisely for stories like that. People coming together, giving gifts, and reuniting. Chance encounters and Christmas miracles. Maybe Luz was too much of a dreamer or a romantic, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The Owl House was uncharacteristically quiet that day, but a commotion of similar proportions could be heard on the other side of town, at the Blight’s home.

“Edric! Give it back!” Amity growled, trying to grab her book from her brother’s hands before he could toss it back to Emira. 

Amity was a second too late and a few centimeters too short, and so Emira had the book back in her hands and was skimming through the pages. They had been doing this for the last minutes when Amity had refused to go with them downtown to skate.

“What’s so good about this book anyway?” Emira asked with that devious grin she always wore, and just before Amity could snatch back the book, it was on Edric’s hands.

All that tossing wasn’t good for the pages, that much was obvious, but Amity was much more afraid of what was hidden between those pages. Then, like a cruel joke from destiny, a tiny white paper slipped out, landing on Edric’s hands.

“What do we have here?” Edric said, holding the book away from his sister but eyeing the runaway receipt.

“Give that back!” Amity growled again more desperately, launching herself at his brother with reckless abandon. They could have the book for all she cared, but if they read that receipt she would never hear the end of it.

“Let me see!” Emira joined in quickly.

“Oooooh, looks like someone won over Mitten’s nerd heart.” Edric mocked, wiggling the receipt over Amity’s head. 

She snatched it back quickly, but it didn’t matter anymore, they had seen it and will most likely tease her about it until the end of times. 

“So who is this mystery nerd giving you books?” Emira asked, placing a hand under her chin with intrigue. 

Edric mirrored her. Amity hated when they did that.

Amity wouldn’t entertain them any longer, not even with an answer to that question, so she turned around and walked away, unable to see the mischievous look on her siblings' face.

“Could this be the mysterious person you went to see after the gala?” Her sister asked. They were good.

Amity was frozen in place, unable to move or even think of a response that could take her siblings off her back, all her mental power now was focused on suppressing the blush on her face.

The youngest Blight scoffed at that, regaining her composure. They weren’t getting anything out of her.

“Why do you assume I went to see someone after the gala?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.

That had been an interesting night. Edric and Emira had come back home earlier than anticipated from the party, earlier than Amity even. Of course, they tried to find out where their little sister had gone off to after the gala, not that Amity had given them much information. She merely limited herself to smirk and rejoice on her victory over her siblings' pre-conceived notions of her.

Now it was all coming back to bite her in the ass.

“We tracked your phone.” Edric answered simply, holding up his own phone.

“You did what?!” Amity yelled.

“Oh please, it was just Snapchat. We saw you near the park and around some buildings.” Emira explained much to her brother’s disappointment. “And this-” Emira snatched the receipt back from Amity’s hands in one swift movement, walking around her sister. 

“Hey!”

“Just confirms it.”

When Amity took a second too long to respond her siblings knew they had hit the nail on the head.

“So, who is it?” Edric asked.

“ Do we know her?” Emira added in a sing-song voice. Sometimes Amity wished she hadn’t come out to them.

“I don’t have to tell you two anything.” Amity answered with a stone-cold tone, shoving her siblings away to make her way back to her room. 

With that, the twins knew they wouldn’t be able to get anything else out of their little sister, but they had just found something to entertain themselves with. 

Amity on her end wasn’t sure why she was being so cryptic about everything. She didn’t want her siblings all up on her business, but it was true that nothing had happened. She never planned on going to the bookstore, she never planned on seeing Luz there or on her giving her a book and making her laugh and feeling all warm and giddy… And she had to stop there.

Those thoughts had become much too frequent since her run-in with Luz at the bookstore.

Just as Amity was about to shut the door of her room the sound of keys and the front door opening made the three Blight kids stiff. It was much too early for their parents to be home from work. 

“Children.” The calm voice of their mother called from the foyer and the siblings shared a quick look before straightening their clothes and heading downstairs. 

Standing there, barely bothering to take off her winter coat was their mother, Odalia Blight, with that piercing hazel stare that could make the devil shiver. 

“Hello, mother.” The three teenagers answered with their “proper voices” as they referred to it, only reserved to address their parents and whatever associate they introduced them to. 

“It’s great to see you three are keeping out of trouble. I’ll be quick, I have to go back to the office.” Their mother said, not really bothering to look them in the eyes while she strolled to the kitchen to look for something. The children knew this was a cue to follow her around and receive whatever instruction she was about to give. “We have been invited to dinner by some of your father’s associates. Orleans Bistro, 7 pm sharp, you wear green. Understood?” 

“Yes, mom.” The siblings answered again. 

Their mother shot them a quick smile, similar to a viper right before biting its prey. She was nearly out, back at the foyer when she turned back towards the siblings, in particular, towards her youngest daughter.

She ran a hand through Amity’s hair and Amity froze again.

“Oh, honey… Your roots are showing again. You shouldn’t let yourself go like that, the holiday break is no excuse. Or you could finally dye it dark brown like your siblings.” Amity bit her lower lip, there was always something with her. 

“Yes, mom.”Amity answered, complete monotone.

“Oh well, it’s up to you really. See you three tonight!” 

Odalia turned around and left, closing the front door behind her. Amity only stood there for a moment, her poised expression slowly falling off into an annoyed frown. 

“Hey, Mittens…” Emira said, reaching out to place a hand on Amity’s shoulder, but she turned around too fast.

“I’ll be in my room.” Amity answered, cutting her sister off. She wasn’t mad at her and didn’t mean to snap either, but those kinds of interactions with her mother were always too much for her. 

Like every time Amity felt stressed or angry or sad, she dived into her books. She only had a few chapters of her new book left to read, but she was much too annoyed for that now. Instead, she decided to catch up on some reading and essays due after the break, just to get her mind off of things.

The time passed her by fast, too fast for her liking, because suddenly Emira was knocking on her door, telling her it was already 5:30 pm and that they should start getting ready soon.

Amity nodded and put away her things, noticing the fantasy book left forgotten on her bedside table. Thoughts of that night filled her head again. Thoughts of that weird and almost magical bookstore, of the thousands of books she would love to read sometime or those she had never heard about. Thoughts of Luz.

Weird, crazy, kind, and sweet Luz. 

Sure, they had only talked for no longer than an hour, but at the same time Amity felt like she knew this girl, or at least she wanted to. She hadn’t been the friendliest, not by a long shot, but still, Luz showed her nothing but kindness, even if Amity didn’t want any of that. They were even. So why couldn’t she stop thinking about Luz?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Odalia and Alador Blight appear again to spoil things slightly. Some mentions of parental pressure and college at the beginning, just a heads up.

**December 18th, nighttime.**

The Blight siblings arrived at the Bistro 10 minutes earlier than instructed. Their parents wouldn’t accept less either way, but the three knew there would be something they would complain about, the surprise of the night was always about what.

The siblings sat by the bar, waiting for the waiters to finish setting up the table reserved for their family and whoever had invited them. They knew the drill and it was always the same. Some stuffy old guy and his much younger wife, usually accompanied by their annoying spoiled kids with whom the siblings would have to make conversation for the rest of the night. 

Not long after, while Emira and Amity scrolled through their phones and Edric tried to convince the barman to give him a drink without checking his ID, their mother arrived; dressed head to toe in expensive garments, not a hair out of place, as usual.

“You’re early, children. What are you doing here, sitting here at the bar like some slumps?” Odalia scoffed, cleaning away a stain on Edric’s shirt collar.

“Sorry, mom. There wasn’t as much traffic as we thou-” Emira tried to explain.

“No excuses daring, that’s beneath us.” Her mother reminded her.

And so Emira said nothing more, biting her tongue back like she always had to do in her mother’s presence. It was either that or exploding, and the latter wasn’t much of an option for the Blight children.

And so the three were now sitting at a large table, with the same stuffy old guy and wife they had anticipated. The spoiled brat of the evening was their son Matt, who couldn’t stop bragging about his latest accomplishments as head of the debate club at his school.

The stories would have been unbearable, if it wasn’t for Edric who mocked the guy every time he turned around to talk to some of the adults, making his sisters laugh every time. 

“And how is business school treating you two?” The old guy asked the twins, who gave rehearsed responses to that same question every time. No need to include the details of their long and stressful nights studying subjects they hated or just plain cheating at the things they didn’t want to do. 

Amity limited herself to sip on her water, being probably the only person at the table who knew the truth. 

“Yes, the twins are doing great at their classes. We can only hope Amity would be up to standard when her time comes.” Mr. Blight said in that deep voice, always sounding so commanding. 

Amity sipped on her water some more, as the adults talked away about their kids' accomplishments, a contest Amity didn’t ask to be involved in but was somehow still being dragged into.

“Yes, Matt just made top of his class.”

“The twins graduated top of their class. Amity is following their steps. Isn’t that right, darling?”

Amity nodded when addressed to, used to that routine.

_ “Excellent grades. Not as good as her sibling’s though.” _

_ “A knack for reading, let’s hope she adheres to academic texts.” _

_ “The heirs of the Blight empire.” _

_ “Of course she’ll be going to business school.” _

Every other comment seemed muffled around her. Amity was used to these types of dinners, where she and her siblings acted as chips on their parents' game of “Who has the best family.” It was nothing new, so why was it all getting to her now? Why was she feeling so overwhelmed? 

When Amity went again to take a sip of her water, she noticed she had finished her glass in the span of a few minutes. But she had to do something, she had to occupy herself with something, anything. 

Her phone buzzed from her pocket and Amity risked shooting a glance at her lap to check it since her mom prohibited cellphones at the dinner table. 

It was actually Emira, texting her a quick “R u ok?”. She must have noticed how sick her sister was feeling. 

“Amity.” Her mother called for her from the other side of the table in a stern tone, making Amity look up quickly. “Are you texting? Seriously, what am I going to do with you kids? Always on your phones.” Amity shrank at the scolding.

She knew the adults had resumed their conversation, but everything sounded muffled again, like she was far away from the table, despite sitting just across from her brother and sister. When her vision became blurry and the weight on her chest only seemed to worsen, she knew she couldn’t take it anymore.

“Excuse me.” Amity said quickly and walked away towards the bathrooms.

Thankfully the bathroom seemed empty because the young girl was sure she was about to lose all composure. Her chest felt tight and her breathing was uneven. She had felt like this before, but she wasn’t sure why it was happening now or at all. 

Well, she sort of knew. Her parents could be a lot, especially when trying to impress someone. 

Amity splashed some water on her face, not really caring about how it would most likely ruin her makeup, and took a few deep breaths. 

“Damn Mittens, caught texting under the table.” Amity turned around, her heart almost popped out of her chest, only to meet Emira, standing next to her, washing her hands in the sink.

“It was your fault.” Amity replied sharply.

“Yeah, ‘cause I was checking how you were doing.” Emira answered like it was so painfully obvious, but Amity only scoffed in response.

“So… How are you?” Emira asked her, her tone soft and patient, a tone she didn’t use very often. She noticed Amity breathing heavily.

Emira wouldn’t share it all that often but she knew the effect their parents could have. On her, on Edric, and certainly on Amity.

“I’m fine, just… A bit overwhelmed.” Amity admitted.

“Who could blame you. Did you hear that guy Mark or whatever? “I was voted best moderator at Model UN, I’m looking into becoming a politician.”” Emira said that last part doing her best impression of the stuck up annoying guy, which Amity thought was pretty on point. 

The sisters shared a laugh and Amity felt able to breathe again.

“Thanks, Em.” She replied quietly, almost inaudibly. 

“No problem, Mittens.” With that Emira wrapped an arm around her little sister and pulled her into a half hug. She could be a pretty great sister when she wanted to. “We’ll just tell mom and dad the food made you all sick and gross.” She added, she could also be pretty annoying when she wanted to.

Amity growled and tried to break free of her sister’s hug, which only made the older Blight laugh. 

A loud ping from Emira’s fun interrupted her. A text from Edric, who was ready to stab his eye with a fork if the girls weren’t back at the dinner table in the next five minutes. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


Dinner finally ended and Amity thought herself free of this torture, she just had to put on her coat and walk out of the restaurant, most likely to go back home while her parents occupied themselves with something else. Finally a few minutes of peace.

Unless some snarky, bratty kid decided to extend an invitation to Amity in front of their parents, knowing how hard it would be to refuse. The guy was inviting her to some get together with people from his school, and since Matt was apparently transferring to Hexside soon, the adults have believed it only appropriate that the teenagers spent some time together. 

Amity, on the other hand, couldn’t have been more grossed out at the thought of it.

“I- Uhm…” She stammered for a few seconds. She couldn’t come up with a good enough excuse right now.

“We actually already have plans.” Emira cut off quickly, grabbing her sister's shoulders.

“We do?” Edric asked from his spot standing next to her.

“Yes! We do!” Amity added. She wouldn’t normally go along with her sibling’s lies, but this one was actually useful to her.

“We have to go look for some books for an assignment and Amity agreed to help us, being interested in the family business and all. You know it is.” Emira explained nonchalantly, addressing the adults more than the stood up teenager, working the “Blight Charm.”

Mr. and Mrs. Blight seemed doubtful for a second, but they never refused any excuses as long as they were academically related. That was basically how Edric and Emira got away with everything they did.

Everyone seemed pleased enough with the excuse, except for Matt who had anger and disgust scribbled all over his face like they had just told him to go watch paint dry. 

Quick goodbyes later and the siblings were walking down the sidewalk, conveniently the complete opposite direction of their parents and their unsavory company.

“That was close, Mittens. You almost went on a date with Mike there.” Edric said in a mocking tone.

Amity couldn’t find it in herself to care for her brother’s jokes. She only released the breath she had been holding from the second that Matt kid had addressed her, like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

“Why do I feel like this is gonna cost me?” Amity asked once they were far enough from the restaurant, and because Emira seemed to be leading them somewhere rather than running away from their absurd evening.

“Oh baby sister, can’t we just do something out of the goodness of our hearts?” Emira asked with fake hurt and dramatic gestures. 

Edric only snickered, but Amity lifted an eyebrow at that, waiting for the catch on all this.

“No.” The youngest Blight answered flatly.

“You’re right.” Edric added.

“Ok, we actually do need books, so you’re coming with us.” 

“Where?”

“To The Owl House of course!” 

Amity froze up at the words and stopped walking, not long after the twins turned to face her with matching grins. Of course, that was the catch.

“What? Why? There’s a mall like 2 blocks from here. And what do you even need books for?” Amity protested.

Of course, she didn’t care about going to The Owl House but... 

Well, that was a lie. She cared, she cared very much, mostly about having to face the cute girl behind the counter again. But she also didn’t want, for the life of her, for her siblings to meet said girl. Who knows the amount of teasing and tormenting she would have to endure when they did.

“For an assignment. That part was true.” Emira explained, grabbing Amity by her arm and pulling her with her to keep walking. Edric followed after.

“We are not doing the assignment, someone’s taking care of that. But they do need some books for it.” He explained. 

Amity was still processing everything while her sister dragged her down the sidewalk, coming up with excuses by the second as to why they couldn’t go there, but Emira simply refuted each and every excuse. She was good at that.

A short cab drive later and they were standing outside the familiar red brick building. Amity straightened her back. She was being ridiculous, it was just a bookstore. And if her siblings decided to be annoying she didn’t have to put up with it, she could simply ignore them or leave. 

“Good thing the address was on the receipt, huh Mittens?” Edric nudged her while making his way up to the door. Amity limited herself to glare at him.

Edric was entranced by the owl knocker for a second, eyeing it up close from every possible perspective, until his sister had had about enough of waiting in the cold and simply shoved him away to open the door to the bookstore.

It wasn’t that late, so several patrons still rummaged around the place.

The twins quickly dispersed, entranced by the antique decorations and artifacts. Amity was left behind, frantically looking around and hoping she wouldn’t run into Luz tonight. Or at least that her siblings wouldn’t.

“Hi! How can I help you?” A familiar voice asked from another side of the store. 

“Well, aren’t you a cutie?” And that was Emira. Her luck was simply nonexistent that night. 

Amity quickly made her way around reading areas and bookshelves to find Luz, basically cornered by her siblings and looking very much flustered. 

“Mittens! There you are.” Edric called for her once he saw her, the anger on her face was unmistakable, they just had to use that stupid nickname every time.

Luz turned to look at her too, not managing to suppress a laugh at the nickname.

“Mittens?” She muttered. 

“We call her that because-” 

“Did you two find what you came here to look for?” Amity quickly interrupted her sister before she could be embarrassed any further. 

“I believe we did.” Edric answered, turning to look at Luz.

“Oh right.” Luz chimed in, unaware of the silent conversation going on around her. “Economics books are over here.” 

“Lead the way.” Emira commented, following Luz around towards some other bookshelves. 

Amity decided to tag along just to keep her siblings in check, definitely not because of the smile Luz just gave her or her unnecessary nervousness.

“I’m sure I’ve seen this author before, but I’m not sure we have this title…” Luz explained while rummaging through some heavy tomes. 

Edric and Emira limited themselves to look at her with devilish grins, very much aware of their sister’s annoyance. 

“Awww, she’s so helpful.” Emira commented, making Amity roll her eyes. 

In a matter of minutes, Luz hadn’t only found the book Edric and Emira had been looking for, but they had somehow struck up a conversation; and just like that she was showing the twins around the store. 

Amity followed around, frankly grossed out by her siblings’ overly sweet comments directed at Luz, mostly her sister. At least Edric had gotten slightly distracted by King and by then Amity considered that her brother and sister wouldn’t be that much of a nuisance, so she turned around back to the fantasy section. 

She couldn’t help but feel like she was slightly out of place at the conversation anyway.

It was usually like that. Her siblings were “the fun ones”. It had always been like that with everybody they met, clearly, Luz had been no exception.

Amity couldn’t quite place why that bothered her so much.

Luz on the other hand was a bit overwhelmed. 

Sure, she liked making friends and the twins were easily the coolest people Luz had met, not to mention she kind of had a thing for upperclassmen. But the cooler the people Luz met the bigger the need to impress them usually was.

The twins were two packets of unmeasurable energy and mischief, and the stories they told Luz only managed to further prove it. As if it wasn’t enough they showed Luz some of their old tricks with the patrons; old pranks and tricks they liked to play, maybe even showing off slightly. It was all harmless, for the most part, so Luz found them entertaining. 

Despite the fun, the absence of a certain girl was much too apparent. For a while, Amity had gone around the store with them but at some point Luz had lost sight of the green-haired girl. She wanted to accompany her, she had been aching to see her again for days anyway, but it seemed rude to leave the twins just like that. Besides, she still wasn’t sure where she stood with Amity. She didn’t seem like she still hated her, but calling her her friend was too much of a stretch.

Once Edric found himself completely enamored with the store’s various pets and Emira joined in to take pictures, Luz knew it was her chance to scurry away for a second and find Amity. And she had a hunch about where she might find her.

“Thought I’d find you here.” The sweet voice of a sweet girl drew her attention back from a book Amity had been checking. 

There was Luz, standing with her hands on her back and smiling at her.

“My siblings finally let you go?” She asked, and if the bitterness slipped out slightly she didn’t notice it.

“Well, Edric just met Owlbert so I think they’ll be quite busy for a while. He has that effect on people.” Luz explained. 

Amity felt the hint of a smile tug at her lips, but the disgust was still much to present to allow that. 

“Can I be honest? I was beginning to think I wouldn’t see you around here again.” Luz said, slightly embarrassed.

That at least caught Amity’s attention. So she wasn’t the only one who had been thinking about their peculiar exchange form days before. The green-haired girl wasn’t sure how to answer that.

“Yeah, well… Edric and Emira needed some books so…” Amity trailed off, immediately regretting her choice of words when Luz visibly deflated. 

“But I’ve been meaning to come back, I kind of finished my book in record time. Do you have the next volume?” Amity asked and Luz perked up again.

“It was Chronicles of Angstmore, right?” Luz asked her, lost again rummaging through the fantasy section. 

Amity only hummed in response, lost in the way Luz was eyeing the covers of every book in front of her. Had she memorized the entire collection? 

“Ah! Here it is.” She cried, pulling out a hardcover book from one of the top shelves. 

Amity grabbed it delicately from Luz’s hands.

“Sadly it’s the last one of the series and it isn’t nearly as good as the first one. They never published anymore, the author got in legal trouble or something.” 

“Oh.” Amity answered, battling between disappointment because of the book and amazement at Luz’s extensive knowledge of the store’s collection.

“But, if I may.” Luz said in a sing-song voice before disappearing between bookshelves again. 

Amity tried to follow her, but the girl was too fast and the maze-like bookshelves and clutter of antique furniture and trash made her wander into a corner of the store, towards a small reading space.

“Luz?” Amity called. Just how big was this store?

A small statue caught Amity’s attention. A winged sword stuck to a small pile of rocks, resembling a pyramid. It looked like a crest of sorts, although Amity didn’t recognize it. She had always liked swords though.

“Heya!” Suddenly Luz jumped from behind the sculpture, startling Amity and making her stumble to the ground with a yelp. 

“Sorry!” Luz apologized, rushing to help the girl up.

“It’s okay.” Amity answered through a groan of pain.

All was forgotten when Luz pulled her to her feet, slightly too forcefully, and they met again, faces barely inches apart and sending a blush to both girls' faces. Thankfully Luz broke eye contact and played off her embarrassment with a cough, giving Amity time to look away and fight back the raging blush on her face.

“But yeah, I was just looking for this.” Luz held out a book towards Amity, a heavy hardcover that she immediately recognized. “If you like fantasy books, this is the best series ever. Says me, but still.”

This was Luz’ favorite book series in the whole world ever since she was a little girl. She was sure she had reread every single tome available, had seen every movie and animated adaptation, she had even written copious amounts of fanfiction about it, but she wasn’t about to tell that to Amity. Not yet at least.

“The Good Witch Azura.” Amity read the title out loud, almost like a whisper to herself. Still, Luz heard her, and she swore the smile she pulled was going to hurt her face muscles.

“You know Azura?” Luz asked, she had never met anyone in real life that liked the book series, being destined for a younger audience and all.

Amity found herself torn between disbelief about finding someone who liked the same books and embarrassment about admitting out loud to a somewhat stranger that her favorite book series was a fantasy story about a witch who fought using the power of friendship. 

Embarrassment be damned.

“I love those books.” Amity admitted, keeping her voice low just in case. “I’ve read every volume except for the fifth.” 

Luz audibly gasped and Amity swore her eyes just started to shine if that was physically possible.

“Having fun, you two?” The voice of Edric completely broke off the moment. 

The twins had found them again, still sporting those devilish grins. They seemed ready to leave, or at least Emira was. Edric could easily stay there all night playing with King and Owlbert.

Luz was still very much visibly excited about finding a fellow Azura fan, practically adding another layer to the fascination she felt about this girl. Amity of course felt the same way, but right now she was much more focused on the ways she was going to get even with her brother and sister.

“We are going to the ice rink downtown, care to join us, Luz?” Emira asked.

Amity rolled her eyes, very much not aware of the plans her siblings made. Not like they cared to fill her in anyway.

“Sorry, I actually already have plans with Eda. But maybe some other time.” 

“Awww, lame.”

“We’ll take you up on the offer, cutie.”

Before turning to leave they both shot a wink at Luz, always eager to mess with people. Luz of course was not immune, and a pale blush spread on her face for a second. 

“I should join them. They do stupid things when unsupervised.” Amity said after a long sigh, watching her siblings walk away and getting distracted by a few trinkets around the store.

“Wait.” Luz stopped her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “You said you’ve only read up to the fourth volume. We don’t have the fifth one on sale, but I could lend you my copy.” 

Both girls walked back to the front of the store, almost automatically, because Amity was having trouble processing Luz’s proposition.

“Luz, I can’t accept any more books from you.” She said through a smile.

Luz laughed in response, disappearing behind the counter, where she pulled out her messenger bag and from it a big, purple book, with Azura and her rival-turned-ally-turned-friend Hecate on the cover. 

“It’s just a loan. From one fellow Azurian to another.” 

Luz held the book out to Amity. She considered it for a second, she had been aching to read it for the longest time, but she hadn’t managed to find a copy at any bookstore or online, they had simply sold out for the holiday season.

“Alright.” Amity took the book from Luz’s hands, who smiled widely at her. “I promise I’ll return it soon.” 

“No rush.” 

Both of them stood there by the entrance of the store for a while. Amity seemed like she was thinking something through.

“Can I have your number?” Amity asked suddenly, and Luz blushed deeply at the question. 

That hadn’t come out the way she intended it.

“S-so I can give you our book back! I mean. It’s okay if you don’t want to, I can just drop it off here later or something-”

“Sure!” Luz cut her off suddenly. It wasn’t every day that a pretty girl asked for her number after all.

“Great!” Amity smiled back, relieved that Luz didn’t think she was some sort of creep for asking that out of the blue.

The twins were definitely teasing her about this later, but Amity couldn’t find it in herself to care. 

After noting down Luz’s number on her phone Amity turned around to reunite with her impatient siblings, waving shyly at Luz from the door.

The brunette waved back, way more eagerly and paying no mind to the patrons around before shouting goodbye at the Blights. 

Luz, of course, wasn’t exempt from the teasing either, since Eda had seen the whole thing. 

“Ya know Luz, when I said to stop giving away my books I didn’t mean for you to give away yours.” She cackled.

Luz groaned in response while a deep blush appeared on her face, unaware Eda had been standing behind her.


	6. Chapter 6

**December 21st, morning.**

A loud knock on her door woke Luz up. Feeling dizzy with sleep she did her best to sit up on her bed and call to see what was all that noise about.

“Kid! Wake up! The dweebuses are here!” Eda called back.

“Shouldn’t it be “dweebi”?” That was definitely Gus’ voice.

Luz stood up quickly and panicked, waking up King in the process, who was still peacefully sleeping at the foot of her bed. She was supposed to meet with Willow and Gus that morning. She must have overslept. 

She dressed up as quickly as possible and dashed out of her room not long after, to find Eda having her morning coffee and her friends waiting in the living room.

“Hey Luz!” Gus greeted her.

“Hey sleepyhead, did you forget we were going to the mall today?” Willow asked.

Luz rubbed her head in embarrassment, but before she could answer Eda took it upon herself.

“Did you stay up late texting your new girlfriend?” The older woman asked, a hint of boredom or maybe exasperation in her voice.

“Your what?!” Gus and Willow asked in near unison.

Luz grimaced and blushed at the wording Eda chose. So maybe Amity had texted her that night after borrowing her book just to thank her again, and so Luz had texted back to see what she thought about the book so far. 

And so, maybe, they had been texting each other for the past days; about the upcoming volume and their theories for it, about their favorite shows and books, music, the Owl House, a bit of everything. 

At one point around 2 or 3 in the morning, Eda had stepped out to the living room to grab a glass of water, only to find Luz huddled over on the couch, laughing to herself with her eyes engrossed on her cellphone. This was the second night in a row this happened.

Eda wasn’t that strict, but she did care that Luz got more than 4 hours of sleep each night. 

“Luz, what are you doing still up?” The older woman asked in a raspy sleepy voice.

When Luz barely lifted her eyes from her phone to answer Eda that she had gotten carried away texting Amity about a book, the older woman simply rolled her eyes and went back to sleep. 

“Ah, young love. Gross.” She said simply after leaving her glass back in the sink. Luz, of course, didn’t hear a thing, gasping at some parallels to the first book Amity had pointed out.

  
  
  


“Who was it?” Gus asked.

“Do we know her?” Willow followed. 

“Is she cute?”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“Spill the details!”

And so many, many more unintelligible questions.

“Guys, guys, guys!” Luz tried to calm them down. “I don’t have a girlfriend! Are you really going to take Eda seriously?” Luz jabbed a thumb towards Eda’s direction, who was snickering form behind her cup of coffee.

Then, as if on cue, Luz’s phone pinged from its forgotten place by the coffee table. 

The three teenagers eyed the device, Gus and Willow with a raised eyebrow and curiosity scribbled across their faces and Luz with a deep blush and wide, surprised eyes. 

“And who might that be?” Gus asked her, rubbing his chin like he was trying to read her reaction.

“My mom.” Luz lied. Or, she tried, but she was simply bad at it, exemplified by the way she started to sweat at the question.

Willow hummed in response, neither she nor Gus believed a thing Luz was saying, but of course, Eda wasn’t that reliable either. 

“Okay, who’s ready to hit the shops?” Luz asked suddenly, much too eager to get out of there, pulling Gus and Willow with her, if only to avoid further questioning. “If we go now we won’t catch the rush hour at the mall.”

It would have worked, they were at the door already, she just needed to get them downstairs and out on the street to keep them busy. But Willow turned around and stopped Luz dead on her tracks with one hand, while Gus only went along. Luz cursed her friend’s uncanny strength.

“Luz we get it if you want to keep that private.” Willow’s voice was soft and understanding and suddenly Luz felt worse about keeping things from her friends. 

It’s not that she didn’t want to tell them, she just… wasn’t sure what any of that was. She had had about a handful of crushes before and about zero friends up until that summer, so everything was fairly new territory.

“What Willow said.” Gus added, and Luz’s expression softened. She couldn’t ask for better friends. 

“But…” Gus added in a euphonious tone. “We are kind of dying to know.”

That managed to get a laugh out of Luz, who took a deep breath and turned back towards the living room. The mall could wait.

The trio had some breakfast, courtesy of Eda, and took their time to hang out at The Owl House and help open the shop while Luz explained, occasionally getting side tracked to mention how adorable her laugh was or how cool Luz thought she was or how much they seemed to have in common, surprisingly enough. 

Except, mid explanation, Gus and Willow stopped her.

“What did you say her name was?” Willow asked, putting down a huge book on botany to fully focus. Gus did the same, standing up from his spot petting King.

Luz didn’t really trust this sudden change of pace in their conversation. 

“Uhm, Amity. Why?” 

Gus and Willow turned to look at each other with an unreadable expression.

“You don’t think…?” Gus asked Willow.

“Perhaps…”

“Uh, guys?” Luz interrupted them, feeling like they knew something she didn’t. “You know I can’t read minds, right? Not yet at least.”

The pair shared one last look before explaining; the last thing they wanted was to cut their friend’s wings before even leaping.

“We actually know Amity.” Willow said.

“Pretty much everyone does.” Gus added and it was safe to say, Luz was confused.

So it turns out she and Amity weren’t perfect strangers, or at least they wouldn’t be for long. Amity also attended Hexside, just like Willow and Gus. She was actually a childhood friend of Willow’s, but since the dark-haired girl didn’t offer a further explanation on that matter besides that they had had a falling out, Luz decided not to push it. Besides, there were many other things to focus on.

Like the fact that Amity wasn’t just another Hexside student. 

Top student since middle school, head of a wide array of clubs and extracurriculars, and occasional ice queen. 

According to Willow and Gus, everybody at school easily knew who the Blight siblings were, even after Emira and Edric had graduated last year. That, however, didn’t mean they were known for only good things, and their status and general mystery surrounding their family didn’t help at clarifying any rumors. 

That being noted, Hexside was known for being a school for only the richest and most influential, the best of the best, so Luz thought that basically made the Blights the best of the best-of the best? That was getting confusing. 

Then Willow further explained, in a tone that gave away yet again that she used to be closer to the family than she gave out. All of the Blight kids were raised under rigorous schedules and standards, not to mention strict rules. The most important of all, and really the most simple, was “The Blights only associate with the strongest individuals.” 

Of course, Edric and Emira weren’t above teasing some of their classmates or crashing a few parties, but Amity truly upheld every single standard her family name conveyed.

She mostly just hung out with Skara and Boscha; the latter Luz had already met, if only for a few minutes, but the girl had a knack for teasing Willow and being a general jerk to everyone, so it goes without saying she wasn’t of Luz’s liking. Or anyones.

Skara was cool though.

All this explanation only managed to mess with Luz’s head. She knew how high school worked, she had been at the bottom of the social hierarchy her whole life, basically observing from the sidelines, but that textbook definition of a stuck up rich girl just didn’t seem to fit at all the Amity she got to know on the past days. 

Sure, Amity’s temper could be fairly scary and her stone-cold facade was very much intimidating, but they had so much in common. Amity loved the same books she did, the same nerdy stuff, she had confided in Luz that her favorite pastime was drawing, occasionally fanart even, and that her sweet tooth could easily give battle to Luz’s. 

Not to mention the adorable stutter and blushing Luz had noticed the girl adopted every time she was nervous. 

But Luz doubted for a second. Maybe she was getting ahead of herself, she tended to do that. After all, a few exchanged words, only a handful of them in person, didn’t mean you actually knew someone. 

Would Amity still want to be her friend if she got to know her? Or if she knew they would be classmates next year?

Luz’s head was spinning with thoughts and insecurities, and it must have become apparent to her friends because suddenly Willow and Gus were standing next to her, each with one hand on her shoulders. 

“Hey.” Willow said softly. “Don’t overthink it.”

“Yeah, Amity is not so bad. Just kinda closed off.” Gus added.

“And if the amount of texting that had been happening throughout the day is proof of anything is that you two get along.” Willow shot her a wink and Luz finally relaxed, letting out a sheepish laugh.

Besides, it was true, she and Amity got along amazingly well, considering their first encounter. She wouldn’t admit it right now to her friends, but she was well aware she had developed a crush on Amity during the previous days, as scary as that was.

Gus and Willow were finally up to date with whatever Luz had going on that made Eda tease her non stop and after so many stories and essentially Hexside gossip, it was around time for lunch. Eda jokingly shooed the teenagers away from the store, saying she appreciated the help but had had about enough of their teenage drama for a day, and so, after a quick hug from Luz, the trio took off towards the mall. 

  
  
  
  


“So, have you asked her out yet?” Gus asked out of the blue. He would have gotten another elbow to the ribs from Willow for his lack of touch if it wasn’t for the fact that she was just as curious as well.

That made Luz look up suddenly, almost choking on the straw of her soda. A faint blush gave away her feelings.

She had been thinking quite often about it since she actually had a way to communicate with Amity now.

“Wouldn’t it be awkward though? We’ll be classmates next year after all.” Luz asked, genuine worry in her voice. 

She really didn’t want to mess up her interpersonal relationships before even joining the school completely, and everything had been going so well up until then. 

“And ruining her shirt and coat wouldn’t have made things awkward either way?” Willow asked with a grin.

“Hey! I fixed that. Kind of.” Luz defended. “And I didn’t know you guys knew her or that we would be in the same school, this changes things.” 

“How come?”

“For starters, I’m super nervous. More so than before.” 

“Chicken.” Gus said simply. Willow only snickered.

“Take that back!” Luz yelled, although the smile on her face gave away that it was an empty threat.

Instead of responding, Gus started clucking like a chicken and batting his arms, which was enough for Willow to burst out laughing. Luz would have followed if she hadn’t been reading her french fries to throw at Gus in case of further teasing. 

The impromptu food fight was cut short when Luz’s phone pinged loudly again. The trio settled down and after wiping the salt away from her hands Luz went to check the new text. Nothing out of the ordinary, except she dropped her phone on the tray in front of her, startling Willow and Gus.

“Everything alrigh-” Willow began to ask, but was cut short by Luz.

“She asked me out.” The brunette blurted out.

“What? Great!” Willow said and Gus hollered in victory.

“What do I say?!” Luz was panicking. This had actually never happened to her before.

“Say yes!” Willow screamed, to which Gus frantically nodded.

Luz stumbled with her phone for a few seconds but managed to send her answer. A quick “yes!”, exclamation for emphasis and due to panic. 

Not long after a winky face emoji was returned, and it was official. Luz Noceda had a date with Amity.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Emira I’m going to kill you!” Amity ran down the hallway giving chase to her sister.

“Just trust me!” Emira yelled back, failing to keep a straight face while doing so, but focusing back on the cellphone in her hands.

“Like hell I will!” Amity then launched herself at her sister, almost catching her, until she darted down the stairs and Amity almost lost her balance with the hallway rug.

Normally she would be calmer, a little more patient, she was having a good day after all. Up until Emira decided to snatch her phone from her hands while she texted Luz.

Because you see, she had a bit of a dilemma. She was starting to like Luz, nothing serious of course, but she was past denying the fact that she wanted to see her again. They had been talking non-stop since she left the bookstore and well, she was happy; this girl made her happy. It was so apparent, her siblings had noticed and of course, had been teasing her non-stop as expected, but when Amity cautiously confided in her older sister that she wanted to see Luz again, not just to return the Azura book, Emira only did what any good older sister would do. Yelled encouraging words at her to stop being such a useless lesbian and ask her out. 

The encouraging part was up to interpretation.

Amity went red instantly at the insinuation. It’s not like she didn’t want to do it, but she feared Luz would reject her; maybe she didn’t see her that way or maybe she was busy, hell, maybe she was already dating someone.

Emira brushed off every excuse Amity could come up with, and leveled her with a bit of truth: She would never be sure unless she asked her. 

Amity considered it for a second, but she had never done any of that before. 

Emira knew her little sister. She was smart, witty, and confident... for some things. And dating wasn’t one of them, not even close. But it was true that she had never appeared interested in anyone until she met Luz, and if her snickering and blushing was a sign of anything, it was that she really liked Luz. 

And so, Emira took matters into her own hands, literally, snatching Amity’s phone away and typing a quick invitation for Luz to meet that same night, downtown near the stores. A public place but still fairly romantic, with lots of options on what to do and positively Christmas-y. 

“What the hell is going on?” Edric appeared from the living room looking confused. All the commotion had caught his attention, which weirded him out even more since he was usually on the other end of the chaos around the house.

“Amity is being a coward.” Emira said, quickly running around her brother and darting to the kitchen.

“And Emira is being a b-” Amity’s comment was cut short when Edric grabbed a cushion and threw it at his little sister.

Amity went to a halt trying to dodge the cushion that inevitably met her face.

“What was that for?!” 

“I’m an agent of chaos.” Edric shrugged.

Emira of course got distracted by this and was now laughing hysterically until a cushion crashed against her face too.

“Edric!”

Amity seized those few seconds Emira was distracted to snatch her phone back with a huff. A little too late, since the message had already been sent and apparently, replied. 

Edric and Emira huddled around her sister to eye the conversation, while Amity skimmed through it with wide eyes.

“She said yes…” Amity muttered, not believing the conversation in front of her. “She said yes!” She repeated, more enthusiastically as she started to process all that. 

“You’re very welcome.” Emira said, leaning on her sister’s shoulder with a smug grin, for which she received a jab to the stomach.

While Edric laughed again at his sisters’ squabble a cushion crashed against his face in sweet, sweet retribution. Coming from Amity’s hand of course.

Amity didn’t really care anymore, but it was necessary. She just kept eyeing the conversation with a dopey, love-sick smile again and again. Until it fully connected after a minute.

“Wait. Tonight?! I’m not ready.” She protested.

“Yeah, you are.” Her siblings answered in unison, sharing a mischievous grin.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“That’s tonight! That’s like, in a few hours! I’m not ready!” Luz, on her part, was having a similar reaction to their impromptu date. 

The celebration had been interrupted by the realization that this was, in fact, real life. That Luz had actually been invited on a date by Amity, that same night no less. 

“I still have stuff to do at The Owl House, and I have to change and I haven’t found my stocking yet and-”

“Luz, breathe.” Willow interjected, handing Luz her bottle of water. 

“You’re ready. It’ll be just like hanging out.” Gus added.

“I’m terrible at that!”

  
  
  
  
  


“I don’t know what to wear! I don’t even know what to DO downtown.” Amity protested while pacing around her room. Edric limited himself to eat some chips on Amity’s bed while Emira eyed her little sister’s closet.

“What am I going to tell mom and dad about going out so late?!” Amity stopped her frantic pacing and Emira turned to face her now that she had a valid concern.

“Hey relax, Mittens. We’ll just go with you.” Edric said from the bed, throwing another chip into his mouth.

“I’d rather die.” Amity answered through gritted teeth.

“What Ed means is-” Emira glared at her brother and clarified. “We’ll tell them we three are going out to look for clothes for the Christmas party. Ed and I will hang around with some people while you go have fun with your girlfriend.” The older sister emphasized that last word by pinching one of Amity’s cheeks, which were now red as a stop sign. 

“We’ll pick you up when you’re done and boom. Back home safe just like we left.” Edric added.

Amity stopped to think about it for a second. 

“How much is this going to cost me?” She finally asked, glaring at the twins wearily. 

Emira only smiled and rolled her eyes.

“This time, nothing.” She said. 

She sounded sincere enough, Amity could tell when either of them were lying, but that was still suspicious. 

“Consider it an early Christmas gift from us.” Edric added, dusting off his hands and standing up to ruffle Amity’s hair.

Amity only scoffed and fixed her hair, unaware that a small smile had sneaked to her face. She had a date with Luz.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First date whaaaat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone is having a good end of the holidays, stay safe and have fun!

  
  


**December 21st, nighttime.**

“You look like you’ve got plans.” Eda’s voice startled Luz, but to be fair, she was so engrossed in choosing her clothes that startling her wasn’t that hard to achieve.

The older woman only chuckled and walked from the door towards Luz, who was holding a pair of shirts, while other clothing items laid scattered on the floor of her room.

Luz smiled back at her and King quickly joined Eda, hopping on her bed on top of yet another discarded pair of pants. 

It was about 8 pm already, which meant Luz still had an hour before meeting with Amity as planned. She had arrived at The Owl House not long ago, but much later than she would have wanted, dashing upstairs, barely muttering a hello to Eda along the way. Such an uncharacteristic rush caught Eda’s attention, so she finished ringing up the long line of patrons and left Owlbert in charge, going upstairs to check on Luz. He didn't have any hands to operate the register but he had one hell of an eye for thieves.

“I forgot to tell you! I have a date!” Luz said cheerily. Most of her nerves had dispersed into excitement on the way there, thanks to Gus, Willow, and a huge cup of cocoa. 

Luz put down the sweater she was eyeing and turned to Eda with a more wary look. “If... it’s okay that I go out tonight.” She said, raising an eyebrow tentatively.

Eda cackled in response. 

“Luz, I’m not your mom, of course you can.” She said, wiping a tear, before immediately taking a more stern look. “But you better be here before midnight and tell me where you’re going or I’m sending King to track you.” 

Luz laughed in response. 

“Downtown. I’ll be back by 11:30 ma’am.” She said with a smile and a small salute.

“Ew, don’t call me that.” Eda joked. 

Luz finally narrowed down her options into 2 of her favorite sweaters. A black turtleneck with a geometric pattern of crescent moons, and a fuzzy yarn sweater with a plushie otter on the front. 

“What do you think, Eda? Witchy or Otter-y?” She turned to ask the older woman, who eyed both options slightly confused. She never quite understood Luz’s fashion choices, not like her “30 and flirty” shirt was any better.

“Well, someone’s got the first date nerves. Who are you meeting?” The older woman asked although she had a pretty good idea of what the answer was. 

“Remember Amity? The girl who came to the store the other day?” Luz asked from inside her closet.

“Uh huh. The green-haired girl that stresses King out?” Eda asked and King seemed to bark in agreement.

Luz made her way to the dog, who had been peacefully laying on top of one of her discarded shirts. 

“You are just Mr. cranky-pants.” She told the dog, who she swore looked like he had rolled his eyes at her. “But yeah, that’s her.”

Eda smiled at the lovestruck gaze Luz couldn’t keep off her face, which had been a staple of hers ever since the last time that green-haired girl had gone to the store. 

Like she had said many times, she wasn’t Luz’s mom, but she had spoken with one Camila Noceda many times, and she had promised to take care of her baby. Eda respected that, she very much did, even if she hated feeling motherly in the slightest. 

“Alright, you go have fun, kid. If you need anything don’t think twice about calling me, okay?” Eda walked towards Luz to ruffle her hair, making the teenage girl laugh.

“Alright. Thanks, Eda.” She answered and Eda turned around to leave.

King followed after her, and Luz was left feeling slightly more relaxed, talking to Eda usually had that effect. 

She knew she probably should call her mom soon, maybe before leaving. Or a quick text would suffice, she was in a hurry anyway.

And she still had to choose what to wear, though.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Alright, how are you feeling?” Emira asked while the Blight siblings walked the busy city streets, towards the huge Christmas tree in the central square, where Luz and Amity agreed to meet. 

“Sick.” Amity answered and her stomach very much agreed. She felt like she had swallowed about her own weight in butterflies.

“Hell yeah, Mittens.” Edric said, bumping her shoulder with his fist, at which Amity glared back.

“Not that kind of sick, Edric.” Amity growled. 

Emira turned to look at her sister and gently shove her brother out of the way. 

“Don’t worry! It’ll go great and you’ll thank me afterward.” Emira assured her smugly.

“Couldn’t you pick a least… loud place?” Amity asked her sister.

“I momentarily forgot how much of a Grinch you were, sorry.” Emira said with a shrug.

“C’mon, Mittens. Christmas downtown is amazing, you can ice skate, see the shops, have some cookies.” Edric commented.

Amity limited herself to eye the crowd around her with a raised eyebrow. Her siblings truly enjoyed everything the city had to offer around this time of the year, but Amity was never one for big crowds, fake snow, and even faker gestures. 

By the time the giant Christmas tree came into view Amity took a deep breath and stopped by her siblings. 

“Alright. I’m ready.” She said, steadying her voice.

“Have fun, sis.” Emira said, ruffling Amity’s hair one last time before leaving, much to her annoyance.

“Call us if you need anything!” Edric added and with that, the twins walked away and disappeared in the crowd to meet with some people Amity didn’t recognize.

Amity stood by the oversized tree next to some just as oversized ornaments and plastic gift boxes, looking around for her date. That word still made her stomach feel weird.

It was hard to stand still, and Amity pondered texting Luz about ten times on the way there, either to cancel against her better judgment or to make sure the girl was meeting her on the agreed spot. All a bit contradictory but hey, she was nervous. 

She decided to put away her phone to avoid any last-minute nerves and look around the square. She wasn’t lying when she told Emira she had no idea of what to do downtown for a date. First, she had never gone on a date, with anyone. And second, she mostly avoided going downtown around this time of year, the closer to Christmas it got the more it filled with tourists and people buying presents, so Amity preferred to avoid the stress if she was able. 

Boscha and her other friends had dragged her there a couple of times, not to mention Edric and Emira, so at least she knew of a decent coffee shop nearby. That was definitely her plan B. And A and C.

But the nerves of what to do that evening weren’t the only thing eating away at the teenage girl’s mind. 

Amity had never had that many friends, not real ones anyway, not to mention crushes or even dates. She scared people, intimidated them, it was one of the many downsides of her family name. It was difficult finding anyone in that city who hadn’t heard of the Blight last name, in fact, from where she stood she could count at least 3 buildings her family-owned. 

But Luz wasn’t from the city, she reminded herself. 

Perhaps that was a part of why she felt so comfortable with Luz. Amity was just a blank slate to her, she could be herself, and that was everything she had always wanted. 

But then again, if Luz found out about her family, would things change? Would she still want to be her friend?

“Hey, Ami!” A familiar voice calling for her snapped Amity out of her thoughts. 

Once she looked around for the source of the voice none other than Luz Noceda was jogging towards her, calling for her and frantically waving her arms. It truly amazed Amity how carefree Luz was; but also, could she get any more adorable? 

She truly could, once Amity saw Luz’s choice of clothes for the evening. Pretty simple jeans, some sneakers, a purple beanie, and the ugliest Christmas sweater Amity had seen, with a stuffed toy otter on the front that jingled with every step Luz took. She knew she had said that about pretty much every sweater Luz had worn the few times they had met, but this one takes the cake. 

“Hey, Luz.” Amity called back with a sweet smile, hopefully, she could blame her blush on the cold. “Is that… a cat?” Amity questioned, 

Luz looked down at her sweater for a second and looked back at the green-haired girl with a gleam in her eyes. She considered it a success that Amity wasn’t giving her estranged looks for her choice of clothing, or maybe she was but at least she was smiling. 

“Ah, close! It’s an otter!” Luz corrected, opening her arms so that Amity could better see the stuffed otter attached to the fabric, inevitably jingling with every movement. 

Amity stared at her for a second, frankly getting lost on Luz’s smile, which was much more distracting than any over-the-top jingling sweater. 

“I like it. It’s strange, but I like it.” She answered simply and she swore she could see the faintest blush on Luz’s face. 

“Thank you. You look really pretty.” Luz said and the blush on Amity’s face was most definitely obvious by now. “I see you weren’t going for heels today. My tiny self appreciates it.” She added.

Once Luz pointed that out Amity reflexively looked down at her black boots, the same she always wore, but she also remembered her previous two encounters with Luz. One right after her parents’ gala and the other after a formal dinner, both occasions that forced her to wear heels, formal wear and all that fuss she mostly hated. 

The only piece of clothing that was still reminiscent of her more formal options was her winter coat, a very expensive maroon overcoat she mostly wore for her parent’s events, but since her usual one still had a huge chocolate stain on it, and she hadn’t got around to get a new one, she mostly wore it everywhere now. 

She didn’t know why the realization made her so nervous, perhaps because normal teenagers weren’t almost always seen in formal attire running around the city during winter.

“I’m rarely that put together… I mean, with the heels and makeup and all that, not that I don’t care about how I look, I just-” Amity stammered, cursing herself with every sentence that got her deeper into becoming a mumbling mess. Thankfully, she stopped when she heard Luz laughing.

“It’s okay. I know holiday parties can get pretty overwhelming.” Luz smiled warmly and Amity returned the gesture.  _ You always look beautiful though.  _ Luz thought, but decided to omit it, she didn’t want to come off too strong. 

“You have no idea.” Amity answered simply, following Luz as she walked slowly around the giant Christmas tree.

“So, what did you have planned?” Luz asked her suddenly and Amity stopped dead on her tracks. She hadn’t planned anything, for the first time in her short life.

Well, there was still the coffee shop. But what if Luz wasn’t hungry? Or maybe that was too boring. She was overthinking again. Not only that, now she was taking too long to answer a very simple question.

Once Luz noticed she was taking a moment too long to answer and perhaps even stressing out a little, she decided to step in. 

“Hey, do you like hot chocolate?” She asked and Amity seemed to relax, nodding as a response. 

The night was young, but Luz didn’t want to waste a second, so she quickly took Amity’s gloved hand and pulled her along down the street, beaming in excitement and talking about a place nearby that served “the best hot chocolate in the world” according to Luz. 

Amity honestly hated being dragged around, she had enough of that when she went out with the twins, but she didn’t seem to mind it one bit now that it was Luz. 

Not long after the pair found themselves standing in line, close to what seemed like a bodega next to a small cafe. Small was an understatement though. The place was open to the street, committing a few health code violations Amity decided to ignore, and inside no more than two small tables could be seen. However, the place had a fairly long line of clients outside, waiting to order and be served from a nearby window. Each of them left with a cup of steaming chocolate, a small bag of churros, and a huge smile on their faces. 

“It’s a bit of a wait, but I promise it’s worth it.” Luz said but Amity didn’t mind one bit, being with Luz was simply that enjoyable. 

Luz was actually right, the wait wasn’t longer than about 20 minutes and the pair had kept busy, talking about the place and how Eda had shown it to Luz shortly after getting to the city. By the time they reached the end of the line a lanky teenager a bit older than both of them greeted Luz with a huge smile and took their orders. 

“Tell Eda I said hi! And that my dad says she still owes him for the churros.” The guy called after the girls and Luz grabbed their cups and a bag of churros.

“Claro que sí.Thanks, Morton!” 

The pair walked for a bit to get away from the tumult of people around the shop and finally, Luz took the first sip of her beverage, letting out a huge sigh of content and making sure to lick the chocolate mustache the cup left. 

Amity eyed the chocolate for a second. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, subpar even. Just a styrofoam cup filled to the brim with steaming hot chocolate, albeit it smelled great, and to Amity’s favor it contained nothing but the brown liquid. No peppermint or cream or even marshmallows, just the way she liked it. 

“I promise it’s not poison. Morton is pretty nitpicky with the recipe.” Luz assured once she saw Amity was still eyeing her cup. 

The green-haired girl only rolled her eyes in response, but a small smile still crept to her face. 

Amity then took a sip of the beverage, and lo and behold it was everything Luz described and more. She had never tasted hot chocolate like that one, slightly spiced with herbs she didn’t recognize that danced around her mouth with each sip.

“It’s amazing.” Amity said, not bothering to contain her amazement. 

Luz chuckled at the girl's enthusiasm and inevitable chocolate mustache. 

  
  
  
  
  
  


It turns out it didn’t matter that Amity wasn’t exactly sure of what to do downtown, Luz seemed to know the city like she had been born and raised there. She insisted it was the fruit of getting lost and taking the wrong buses for the entirety of her first month living there, but it still amazed Amity. She had lived in the city her whole life, and even if she could find her way around most of the streets around them, Luz simply seemed to know the farthest, most recondite and colorful places. 

After the chocolates and churros had disappeared, between conversation and laughter time flew by and it was almost time for both of them to leave, but they still had some time to kill, settling on taking a stroll through the now calmer streets that led back to the huge square downtown. 

While the pair discussed the upcoming Azura volume and whatnot, the distant sound of caroling interrupted them, sounding closer with every step they took. Luz seemed stoked, she always loved finding caroling troops around the city, and pulled the other girl along with her to get closer to the group of people singing a rendition of “The First Noel”. Amity, on the other hand, was less than impressed. 

Once they got close the contrast between Luz’s excitement and Amity’s apathy was much too apparent. 

“You don’t like Christmas carols, don’t you?” Luz asked Amity, who had defensively crossed her arms while the people around them either sang along or took pictures. 

“They’re not… my favorite.” Amity was being vague on purpose, not wanting to stomp on Luz’s excitement. She had been called a Grinch enough.

Luckily for her, that was the last song the group had planned, so they quickly dispersed. Luz laughed at the response Amity gave her and took the chance to resume their walking.

“Is it safe to assume you don’t really like Christmas activities either?” Luz asked her, still smiling and holding her arms behind her back. 

Amity still had her arms crossed, and as much as she tried to relax again, she simply couldn’t. She didn’t want to seem like such a bore, if only not to spoil Luz’s fun, but she couldn’t help it.

Amity considered lying for a second; dance around the topic until they could simply converse about anything else or until it would be time to say goodbye, but she had her pride and also hated lying.

“You would assume correctly.” She answered simply, making efforts not to sound too cold. 

Luz’s expression softened at that. She had put a lot of effort into making sure all of her ideas for the evening helped Amity relax and have fun, and up until that moment, she had succeeded. 

“Alright, no caroling. No Christmas music either?” She asked with a playful tone.

“None.” Amity answered, matching Luz’s tone.

“Come on! None? There are so many.”

Amity thought about it for a moment. There might be one she didn’t mind listening to, she actually quite enjoyed it. 

“I bet I could find one you like.” Luz said with a daring tone and that was enough to set off Amity’s more competitive side.

“Oh, you bet?” Amity asked through a laugh that replaced her usual sarcasm. Luz took that as a good sign. 

“Yep” Luz answered, puffing up her chest. “There’s a record store near here, I bet I can find at least one song you enjoy.”

Amity mused over the idea for a second. 

“You know we don’t have much time, don’t you?” She asked, raising a defiant eyebrow. 

“I’m well aware.” Luz answered smugly and Amity suppressed a laugh.

“Alright. You have 20 minutes to find me a holiday song I might enjoy, Noceda.” Amity said, extending her hand for Luz to seal the deal. 

Luz’s face changed with the confirmation she had been waiting for, and the smirk on her face morphed into a huge smile. 

“You’re on.” 

She grabbed Amity’s hand, not to shake but to drag her yet again, this time in the direction of the record store with an unmistakable gleam in her eyes. Amity yelped at the sudden force pulling her again down the street and threw a hand on top of her beanie so it didn’t end up flying off her head. What had she gotten herself into?

Thankfully for Luz’s time limit, the record store wasn’t far from there and from the second they entered, Luz got to work. She discarded the obvious classics like “White Christmas” and “Let it snow” saying those were too obvious choices and that everyone had heard them by now, which Amity acknowledged as accurate. 

No caroling, that part had been established; no remakes either, although Luz did apologize with Ariana Grande’s and Michael Buble’s records. No Mariah or Britney either. That had sort of narrowed down her options. 

Every few minutes Luz would look up from the records, tapes and cd’s in front of her to give a comically focused look at Amity, who walked around eyeing whatever the store had, occasionally laughing at Luz’s commitment with the task.

The store was cozy enough, dimly lit, probably not by choice since a few lightbulbs were missing from their spots, and faint Christmas music could be heard in the background, not too loud to make it annoying thank goodness. Despite everything, the store was charming and its collection was impressive.

“Okay, I’ve narrowed it down to three options. Is that enough?” Luz asked, well aware that she still had five minutes to spare.

Amity mused over it for a second and decided to cut the girl some slack. 

“Describe them and I’ll discard one.” 

“Okay, I have: An original pop song, a pop-punk social commentary, and a winter ballad. Take your pick.” 

Amity thought about it for a second, mostly ignoring the fact she had never gotten into such a silly game like right now. 

“I can’t get another clue on the pop one, right?” She asked.

“Only if you want to help me.” 

“Then no.” Amity answered quickly and Luz chuckled. 

“Okay, no pop. The green hair doesn’t mean I automatically like pop-punk, though.” Amity finally answered and Luz got deep in thought again. 

“But how do you feel about musicals, though?” Luz asked suddenly from behind a row of old records.

“2 minutes.” Amity answered with a cocky smile and Luz let out a panicked squeal before running back towards another pile of records. 

Amity giggled at this girl’s antics. Even if she couldn’t guess her favorite song, she was having a lot of fun. 

“Okay, I’ve made my choice!” Luz strolled back, holding a record behind her back. 

Amity was tempted to peek and see if she had made at least a close enough choice, but Luz wouldn’t let her, claiming that was still cheating. 

“Okay, put the headphones on and prepare to declare me victorious.” Luz said, handing Amity the huge worn-out headset and still keeping her song choice a secret. Amity obliged.

“Luz I swear if this is “Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer” or something.” She said with a stern voice, but the smile on her face was much too apparent.

“I’m actually offended you think I’d be so basic.” Luz answered with a fake hurt expression. 

No other words were exchanged when Luz disappeared to put the record on and the silence after their playful banter was honestly deafening for Amity. 

Soon, familiar notes on a piano were filling her ears. She definitely knew those chords, she had even played them at the house’s grand piano when no one was around before. Then the lyrics started, but the voice wasn’t what she expected, this was a cover, and by technicality, Amity would have won, since she had stated she didn’t like covers, but the voice singing was so soothing and appropriate for the song she couldn’t really mind. 

This was her favorite holiday song, Luz had gotten it right, only a version Amity had never heard before but also desperately wished she could have found earlier. 

Then the final notes played and faded out into nothingness and Amity opened her eyes. She felt silly about getting so carried away about a song, but she really couldn’t help it; everything hit her all at once, and just like that, it was over.

“So? Did I get it right?” Luz appeared from behind her, seeming more cautious than usual, anticipating Amity’s response. 

She shook the surprise off of her when she took off the headphones and cleared her throat if only to test her voice wouldn’t fail her.

“Alright. You won.” Amity answered, having recovered her usual poise just in time. 

“Wait, really?” Luz asked, incredulous. 

“Why would I lie?” Amity asked again and for once it didn’t sound as cold. “That was a great pick.” 

Luz smiled brightly again and stood straighter, filled with pride. 

The pair exited the store just in time before the clerk could kick them out for the mess Luz made looking for Christmas music. The later it got the colder the air around them was and the faster the people walked to get to their destinations. 

“That would have been way easier if you had just used Spotify.” Amity commented through a laugh while they walked.

“But where’s the fun in that?” Luz retorted. 

“The clerk might have appreciated it.” 

“Maybe.” Luz laughed and Amity quickly joined. A sense of peace washed over both of them, sending them into a comfortable silence.

“Can I ask why “River”?” Luz finally asked Amity after a while and well, she didn’t really know how to answer.

“Well, you choose it. Why did you think I would like that one?” 

Luz thought it through for a moment as they walked down the street, hands buried in her pockets. 

“Well, my other choices were either Green Day or Sia, maybe The Beach Boys.” Amity laughed at the honesty, not bad choices, but ultimately wrong. “So I just thought you would appreciate a classic, with a small twist.” 

Amity gave Luz a half-smile while she explained.

“It’s a bit on the sad side though.” Luz concluded.

“It’s more real.” Amity retorted. 

Luz was about to say something else, perhaps agree or respond with how Christmas was supposed to be an optimistic time, even if she was having a bit of a hard time staying optimistic herself, but a sudden chill breeze made her shudder enough to interrupt her sentence. 

The temperature now was much lower than when they had met, and even though Amity came prepared with her trusty coat, Luz had only brought her yarn sweater. Had she not left The Owl House in such a hurry she wouldn’t be freezing, but no use crying over that now. She wanted to enjoy the last few minutes of their date. 

“Luz, you’re shaking.” Amity pointed out mid-conversation.

They were back at the park that led back to the square when Amity noticed Luz was shivering nonstop; her hands on her pockets were no longer warming enough. And so, she did what any good date would do.

“Here, have my coat.” Amity offered.

“Don’t worry about me. I’m f-fine!” Luz tried to excuse herself, cursing when her voice wavered from a sudden cold breeze.

Amity didn’t believe her though and she wasn’t about to take no for an answer either, so she gently placed her coat over Luz’s shoulders, at least as a blanket it could fend off most of the cold. Luz felt a blush spread across her face at the gesture, barely missing the similar red glow on Amity’s cheeks, had she not turned her face away from her. 

“Won’t you be cold now?” Luz asked, hugging the warm fabric but still worried. 

“It’s okay. My sweater is pretty thick and I probably should be getting home soon.” Amity explained, but Luz wasn’t that okay with her answer, so she linked her arm with Amity’s without missing a beat. 

Immediately Amity felt warner, although she wasn’t sure if it was from embarrassment or Luz’s body heat. 

None of them said anything, instead opting for the comfortable silence while strolling around the park, before meeting the chaos and noise that was a staple of the city center around this time of the year. 

It was around 11 now and Luz would have to make her way back soon as to not worry Eda. The twins seemed to have a similar idea at the same time, since Amity’s phone began to ring from her pocket. 

It was Edric, letting Amity know they were waiting for her at a corner near where they had left. 

“Alright. I’ll be there in five.” Amity answered and Luz smiled in acknowledgment, despite being a little disappointed their date had to come to an end. 

“Wait, are you with Luz right now?” Edric asked, loudly as always, and due to the proximity of both girls, Luz had managed to hear him perfectly. She turned to look at Amity with a raised eyebrow and holding back a laugh.

Well, there was no use in trying to come up with an excuse now, so she simply sighed. 

“Yes, Edric. I am.” She answered, annoyed.

“Cool! Can you hear me? Hey, Luz!” Amity flinched at the even louder voice of her brother that hurt her ears and Luz couldn’t contain her laugh any longer.

“Hey, Edric.” She greeted back.

“Em and I want to let you know you’re invited to our Christmas party later this week!” Edric yelled again through the phone and Amity turned to glare at it, as if Edric could feel it. Although with the intensity of the glare, he probably could. 

“That sounds fun. Thanks.” Luz said while looking at Amity from the corner of her eye.

“Are you talking to Luz? Tell her I say hi! And she should come to our party!” Now that was Emira’s voice in the background.

“I already told her that, idiot.” 

“You’re the idiot.”

“Alright, that’s enough.” Amity said, moving her phone from next to Luz, a small blush on her face, due to a combination of embarrassment and anger. “See you guys in 5.”   
  


She said sternly and hung up, despite the voices of the twins still fighting at the other end of the line. 

Luz couldn’t stop her laugh this time, it was always fun to see those interactions between the siblings. Amity only sighed to regain her composure. 

“Well, you’re apparently invited to their Christmas party.” Amity said, slightly bitterly.

“I’ll be there if you are.” Luz answered without really thinking, sending a brand new blush to Amity’s face. She wouldn’t need her coat if Luz kept making her blush. 

Luckily they didn’t have to say much more, since they were already back at the square, back into the chaos of the city and bound to part ways. For now at least. 

“So, I guess I’ll see you soon?” Amity said shyly.

“Yeah! I mean- I’d like that.” Luz stammered for a bit, which made Amity laugh again. Such a beautiful laugh Luz just couldn’t get enough of it, let alone of being the reason for it. 

“Hey, Mittens!” The moment was cut short again by the twins, who were standing nearby, waiting for their sister to go back home before their parents could suspect. 

“Hey, cutie!” Emira then waved at Luz, which Luz shyly returned. 

She just couldn’t enjoy anything. 

Wrong, she had just spent the most marvelous evening, and her siblings weren’t about to ruin it. 

“Goodnight, Amity. I had a great time.” Luz said and that gleam in her eyes was apparent to Amity again, who almost choked on her own words. 

“Mee too, Luz.” She answered, and for a second, brown eyes got lost on hazel. Luz thought that under the city lights Amity’s eyes almost seemed golden. 

“So, I-” The brunette began, but was quickly interrupted again.

“C’mon, Mittens!” Emira called again and Amity stiffened a growl. They would pay for that later.

“Actually! Luz, about the party!” She heard Edric say and his footsteps coming towards them. Them and their stupid party. 

Luz didn’t seem to mind since she was still laughing at the siblings’ antics, but the night had been much too perfect for the twins to embarrass her just at the end of it. 

“No way! Turn around, we’re leaving.” Amity turned around, a bit too forcefully maybe, but Edric was almost there.

Luz decided it was best to just stay there since she would have to turn back a few streets to get to The Owl House anyway.

“Alright, alright! Jeez!” Edric complained as he was dragged back towards the street, soon Emira was being dragged too, just in case. 

“Bye, cutie! We’ll text you!” Emira told Luz from afar, who only waved back with a big smile.

Amity felt bad about leaving like that, but her siblings could get the best of her at times. That didn’t stop her from turning to get a last look at Luz while her siblings entered the car, or rather, were pushed into it. 

Luz still stood at the same spot, waiting to see that the trio got home safely. 

“Text me when you get home?” Amity yelled from her place, a bit worried about Luz still.

“You too!” Luz called back, her voice barely audible above the crowd around them, but her smile still managed to make Amity’s stomach do a flip. 

“Now who’s taking too long?” Emira said before dragging Amity into the car with them.

Luz could only imagine the squabble that would take place inside the cab and hoped for the sake of the twins that it would be a short ride home. Luz laughed to herself again before making her way back to The Owl House, feeling happier than she had in a long time. 

What a night. 

Wait.

Shoot.

She forgot to give Amity her coat back. 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! Well, it certainly isn't Christmas anymore, but I still wanted to upload the story and some of you guys still seemed interested in it.  
> I won’t lie, I had a whole schedule to have it all up by the end of December, but lots of stuff happened during that time and then uni happened (ew) and I sort of lost motivation.  
> Still, I want to see this story to completion and share it with you all.  
> I’ll try to update faster, but no promises, there are other stories I want to update too and a few oneshots sitting on my drafts, but anyway, thanks for sticking with me and my weird posting schedule if you’re still here <3

**December 22nd, morning.**

“C’moooon, Mittens. Are you seriously not telling us anything?” Edric complained for about the fourth time that morning, pulling his best puppy dog eyes at his apathetic younger sister. 

Amity limited herself to eye her book while sipping quietly on her morning juice.

“Just tell us something! Where did you guys go? Did you even kiss her?” Emira pushed and Amity blushed a deep crimson at the implication. Not that she hadn’t thought about it though. 

“Why are you two so interested in me all of a sudden?” Amity asked annoyed. 

She was just trying to get her siblings off her back, but the doubt had been nagging her for a few days. They were rarely interested in anything that happened in Amity’s life, not like much stuff happened anyways. 

Edric and Emira shared a look, their typical “blink and you miss it” look, which was their most efficient way of communication. Amity barely caught sight of it. 

“By the way, did you tell Luz about our party?” Edric suddenly changed subjects while Emira got up to pour some more coffee on her mug, both of them playing everything off as if Amity hadn’t asked a thing. Had it not been for years of them doing that same thing as they pleased, Amity would think she was going crazy.

“I have not and I will not.” Amity said coldly, turning her attention back to her book. 

“I’ll text her later, don’t worry.” Emira called from the kitchen, making Amity look up so fast she almost strained her neck. 

“How do you have her number?!” 

“I sent myself the contact when I stole your phone.” She answered with a smug smile, sipping quietly on her coffee while she made her way back to the breakfast table. Edric snickered next to her. 

Amity groaned and stood up abruptly from the table, taking only her book and abundance of hatred towards her siblings with her while the pair resumed conversation about their stupid Christmas party. 

She didn’t mean to seem so secretive, after all, she knew that only managed to pique their sibling’s interest, and it’s not like they didn’t already know Luz. But they were still getting to know each other, and as much as Amity would play it off, she really liked Luz. She wanted everything to be perfect, not too fast, not too slow, get to know each other, and perhaps that way Amity would find it easier to come clean about who she really was. 

Luz was bound to find out either way, but Amity didn’t leave anything to chance. She liked planned out, calculated stuff, so she had already planned out to talk to Luz about everything. But not now. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Luz found herself woken up by Eda’s yelling and pounding on her bedroom door. She had gotten home in time as promised, but she was so tired from her date she had gone straight to sleep until then, much later than anticipated. 

She was still dizzy with sleep, so she barely registered what Eda said through the door. Something about going down to open up and that Luz had breakfast in the kitchen. 

Luz considered going back to sleep, just five more minutes, but the sudden buzzing from her phone made her check her texts first. At least King was having a good morning, still sound asleep by the foot of her bed. 

There was nothing out of the ordinary. Gus and Willow asking how her date had gone, the last text goodnight Amity had sent her last night, and a text from her mother. The most recent, though, was from an unknown number. 

**Unknown: Hey cutie, guess who ;)**

Perhaps she was still sleepy or the wording of the text wasn’t connecting fully with Luz but it confused her until her phone buzzed again with a new message. 

**Unknown: Just wanted to remind you that you’re invited to the super fun Blight Christmas party this saturday.**

Oh okay, now Luz remembered. 

Attached to the message was a very improvised flyer with the date, time and location for the party, which Luz graciously accepted with a bunch of emojis. 

Then as if on cue she got a text from Amity. 

**Amity: If you get a cryptic message don’t worry, It’s Emira.**

Luz let out a hearty laugh at the girl’s timing and quickly tapped a response. 

**Luz: And here I thought it was those pesky scammers again.**

**Amity: Oh she can scam you. Don’t get too comfy.**

Luz laughed again at the response. She wondered how much of a truth it was. 

**Luz: btw I still have your coat. Sorry about that :p**

**Amity: It’s okay.**

**Amity: Can I take that as an excuse to see you again soon?**

She blushed at the message, but smiled nonetheless, that lovesick smile Eda had been teasing her about for the past days. 

**Luz: No need for an excuse :)**

**Luz: How about today?**

Luz fidgeted with her phone for a few seconds, getting more nervous by the second. She hoped she wasn’t asking for too much, to meet again after barely a day, but she had had so much fun. 

The three dots that signaled that Amity was tapping out a response popped up on her screen and Luz’s nerves multiplied. 

**Amity: I’d love to, but it’s my parents' Christmas party today.**

Luz sighed and frowned at her phone, disappointed. Still, she understood; they had just seen each other last night after all, and even if Amity had barely talked about her parents, Luz already knew they kept her and the twins on a tight schedule during the holidays.

Another buzz from her phone snapped Luz from her musings.

**Amity: Tomorrow?**

**Amity: I promise I’ll plan something this time.**

Luz was again smiling dopily at her phone. This girl would be the death of her, that was for certain. 

Feeling content with that plan and tapping out a quick message back, Luz allowed herself to flop back on her bed with a deep, happy sigh. She could have honestly lay there all day texting Amity, or simply re-reading that bit of their conversation, but King had already woken up and was seriously demanding some food with whimpering and grumbling. 

“Alright, alright. I’m coming.” Luz said, standing up from her bed and petting King’s head. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


At the other side of town, a certain green-haired girl’s day was, simply put, chaotic. 

But well, every year it was. 

Alador and Odalia Blight’s Christmas party was nothing but an extravagant lavish gala, that put any other event of the season to shame. It usually took their mother months in advance of planning, inviting guests pretty much from all over the world, using the festivities as an excuse to reunite them all and remind them just how much of a valuable partner the Blight family company was. 

And just like any other fundraiser, event or gala, the Blight children had to be in attendance. Perfectly dressed and mingling with associates and their insufferable children. 

This year, however, there was a twist. Since the twins had come of age and were one step closer to inherit a place amongst the high chairmen of the company, their parents thought only appropriate that they should help with the arrangements for this year’s planning. And since Edric and Emira cared not for their parents' interests and had heard 0 to none of their instructions, they had trusted Amity to help them with the preparations.

She would have refused, this was of course not her responsibility until a few more years, but something that made the twins beg for help was no measly task, so Amity pulled out her binder and got to work, organizing everything the twins would have to do weeks in advance.

Those previous weeks had been tolerable, fine even. Calling florists, catering services, entertainers and many many guests, and the Blight children had managed. Until today, when all of the last-minute preparations had to absolutely come together or they would have to answer to their parents, something all the children very much preferred to avoid. 

Emira was pacing around the living room, holding receipts and cards while talking with some people at the venue to settle some last minute affairs. Amity was doing pretty much the same, organizing the delivery of the food and other amenities, while Edric dashed frantically from the front door, having picked up their outfits from the modiste. 

Not a single detail could be out of place, and that of course, included the Blight siblings' very appearance. 

“Alright, venue ready. They are setting up the tables as we speak.” Emira said with a huge sigh, emerging from the living room and into the foyer with her phone in hand. 

“The food will be dropped off at 6 o’clock.” Amity added, crossing the last items off the list on her hands. 

“And I have the clothes.” Edric added, handing each sister their dresses, all fitted and ironed. 

The three Blight children sighed in unison and collapsed on the living room sofa, exhausted but satisfied to see their operation to near completion. 

“Now all we have to do is get through tonight…” Emira said, wiping her brow.

“And then it’s bye-bye mom and dad and hello freedom!” Edric finished for her, throwing his hands behind his head in celebration. 

Amity scoffed at them but smiled nonetheless. It had become a sort of holiday tradition for them anyway. 

Right after the Christmas gala, which was always held right before the 24th, their parents would always leave until January to who knows where with merely a quick goodbye and a gift for each of them under the tree. 

Since they had the whole house for themselves for at least two weeks each year, Edric and Emira had made it tradition to throw their own Christmas party, the wildest and craziest they could muster, without their parents knowing, of course. 

Amity mostly opted out of it, preferring to be spared of the loud music, gallons of alcohol and stupid teenagers running around her house to spend Christmas Eve relaxing, locked in her room until Christmas morning, when she could mock her siblings' stupid decisions and unavoidable cleaning duty. 

“Alright.” Edric muttered, standing up from the couch. “I’m gonna go get handsome.”

“Yeah, you need it.” Emira said and Edric turned around to stick his tongue out at her, very maturely.

Amity rolled her eyes at the two of them, despite the smile on her face, and settled down for a few minutes of tranquility before leaving to go get dressed. They had about an hour and a half to get ready and leave for the venue anyway. 

“And remember your brooches this time or mom will rage!” Emira called from upstairs, and those words were enough to make Amity jolt back up.

“Shit.” She muttered.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“Alright, Kiddo. I’m leaving. Sure you can manage the store?”

Eda asked Luz from her spot by the counter, where she was putting on her winter coat and yellow scarf. Luz chuckled in response, it seemed like Eda worried about her more and more every day, making a (terrible) effort not to let it show.

“You’ve left me in charge of the store a bunch of times, Eda.”

“Can’t blame me for asking. Bunch of weirdos out late at night.” The older woman replied, glaring at the front door.

“Aren’t you going out late at night?” 

“Which only proves my point.” Eda answered, stubborn as always. 

Although Luz did have a point, she had been living with Eda long enough that she was no defenseless middle-aged woman. She had even taught Luz how to pick locks, a little secret that stayed between them just in case her mom asked. 

She still kept her secrets though, like whatever she would do going out late at night, usually coming back home late almost before dawn. Luz had her fair share of theories, like maybe her host was a vampire, or a witch! Or maybe she just went out to play cards or bingo like old people normally did. Nothing odd there, except that she always took Owlbert with her, tucked cozily inside her coat when the winter weather had rolled around.

“I think King and I can manage, right boy?” Luz assured her, turning to pet King on his grey head, who simply agreed with an uninterested whimper.

“Alright.” Eda said, relaxing at the countless times Luz had proven herself capable of running the store and ignoring the other handful of times she had almost set it on fire. 

Still, something seemed to keep Eda from leaving still, as she looked around the store and down at her gloves for about the fifth time, uncharacteristically tense.

“Lily asked if we might want to join her for Christmas dinner.” Eda said casually while Luz moved to arrange some books on a shelf. 

The mention of Eda’s infamous sister made her run back to the counter in record time, startling King and Eda in the process.

Lilith Clawthorne was almost as much of a mystery as Eda was, but only because her sister almost always refused to talk about her. She only knew her because she was a teacher at Hexside, and Principal Bump had made her acquainted with Luz since she would be staying with Eda. 

“The fire department should have an emergency contact and it sure won’t be me.” As Bump has stated.

The similar last name didn’t go unnoticed by Luz, nor the similar imposing aura both sister’s shared, even if Eda’s was immensely more chaotic, while Lilith kept a poised demeanor at all times. 

Unless Eda teased her. 

Before Luz’s arrival, they hadn’t talked much in years, and when Luz got comfortable enough to ask why (about ten minutes after knowing about the existence of Lilith), Eda simply dodged the question. That all had changed after Luz was preparing to attend Hexside though, since Lilith was their best connection to the school and a wonderful scholar, so she had spent some time with them the past months, tutoring Luz and showing her some of the school grounds and traditions. Eda always added her two cents, with memories from her time at the school and her opinion on some of the more uptight and posh traditions, to which Lilith would either refute or simply roll her eyes. 

The sisters eventually got to talk more, and more often than not Luz would find them laughing together, even if it was quickly followed by more banter and light-hearted threats.

“Well, what did you tell her?” Luz asked, trying to sound calmer than she was, and failing. 

She knew better than to get all up on Eda’s personal life, but she had noticed how much happier the older woman was now that her sister was around more often. 

Eda raised a brow at Luz and that hopeful shimmer in her eyes that annoyed her so much because she knew Luz cared and she couldn’t even find it in herself to actually be annoyed at her for it. Luz was simply like that.

“I told her I wasn’t sure and that I would ask you first.” Eda said plainly and Luz drowned back a squeal of joy. 

If she couldn’t be with her family during the holidays at least she would have some part in helping another family be together for them.

“Well, I don’t have any plans.” Luz replied with a toothy grin, the one she usually used to ask Eda for something. 

Eda only rolled her eyes and moved towards the door again.

“I’ll think about it.” The older woman replied, annoyance dripping in her tone. She simply wasn’t the “familiar” type. 

Although Luz begged to differ. 

Still, she considered it a win. A celebratory dance was in place, when Eda’s voice called again from behind the almost closed door.

“Close up early, no sweets near the books and no girlfriends while I’m not home!” 

The blush that rushed to Luz’s face with yet another one of Eda’s “jokes” made the teenager stop dead on her tracks. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Amity on her part was very much still panicking. 

She thought perhaps she had just misplaced her brooch inside her room, although she was very careful and that had never happened before. Now she was sure, the brooch was at its usual place, still pinned to the inside of her coat’s pocket.

Her coat she only wore to her parent’s events.

Her coat she had been using lately since her usual, favorite coat was out of order due to a certain chocolate incident.

Her coat that Luz had accidentally kept after last night. 

Now, misplacing a piece of jewelry wasn’t the end of the world, especially if you actually knew where it was. But losing the Blight family brooch, right before the most important event of the year, was a valid reason to panic.

Edric had made the mistake of forgetting his at home a few years back, and once her mom had noticed the missing detail in her son’s lapel for their annual family photo for the gala, all hell had broken loose. There was certainly not enough time for Edric to retrieve the brooch, but he still had to go out during a particularly cold winter night to get it and be back in time for the photo. That and a very clear ultimatum about responsibility, along with saying goodbye to his phone, computer and generous allowance until late February. 

In her older brother’s words, the scolding he had received in private by his parents was much worse than the aftermath punishment, and Amity didn’t take his warning lightly. 

She had to get her brooch back and it had to be quick.

She shot Luz a quick text, trying to sound as casual as possible when you suddenly really, really needed your coat back. The quick answer was appreciated, and Amity almost relaxed when Luz informed her she would be in charge of the store all evening and she could come pick the coat up any time. 

All she had wanted for the past days was to get to know Luz as a normal, average girl, but here she was, panicking about a stupid brooch for a stupid gala. Normal people didn’t do that!

But there was no time for that. She had about two hours left before the gala, that’s plenty of time to retrieve a coat right?

Or it would be, if fate didn’t simply have to go against her, because at that very second someone called from the venue, informing the youngest Blight of an error regarding the placement of some tables and furniture. Surely one of the siblings would have to go down to the venue right that moment and fix it, and it sure as hell wasn’t going to be Amity, she had helped the twins enough. 

She ran upstairs to tell Ed and Em about the issue, only to find Emira’s room completely empty, her gala clothes still hanging outside her closet. She had a tendency to scurry away, especially at the worst possible time. 

Amity groaned in annoyance but she didn’t have time to get mad right now, she had to get to The Owl House in time to get back home and change. Ed was her only chance. 

“Edric!” She called from behind the door, locked as expected, and from inside she could hear the water from his bathroom’s shower running.

“Edric! Open up, something came up!” But no answer.

Amity knew her brother, and he was probably blasting music at top volume and would be a good half hour before he came out, at best. Not having to put up with that was one of the blessings of the twins going away to college the past year, but it seems she hadn’t completely gotten rid of said curse. 

Once she got tired of knocking on her brother’s door and actually considered kicking it open, Amity took a deep breath to regain her composure. No problem, she’ll just phone Emira while she gets ready to get to The Owl House. Her sister could surely handle it. 

Except Amity was ready and almost out the door, after leaving Emira about 3 voice mails and several missed calls to no avail. 

Amity opened the front door and stood there for a moment, staring at her phone. Still, no sign of Emira and her little run around had cost her half an hour. She could still make it to The Owl House and back on time, but she surely couldn’t get to the venue, and by the time the siblings and of course their parents would get there, whatever chaos was reigning there would still be very much present. 

That wasn’t her problem, not at all, she wasn’t put in charge of planning anything, she had just helped out of the kindness of her heart and the annoying whining of her brother and sister. She could go wherever she pleased and the more than secure scolding would only fall on Edric and Emira, maybe that would teach them to be a little bit more responsible even.

Except, something was stopping Amity. 

Edric and Emira were very well acquainted with their parents’ scoldings, unlike Amity. But this wasn’t just a few hours of class skipped or getting caught sneaking out. 

This was the Blight’s Christmas Gala.

The social event of the season for the company and all their associates.

And, to quote their father, if they messed this up, they were done.

The siblings weren’t quite sure if “done” meant grounded or dead, and they didn’t want to find out. 

“You two are so paying me back.” Amity muttered angrily as she made her way down the street, the complete opposite way to The Owl House and towards the venue. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


If you’ve ever wondered how long it took to perfectly locate a bunch of tables, chairs and other paraphernalia inside the biggest hotel in town, the answer would be: way too long. 

The perfectly detailed plan Amity had sent days in advance had apparently gone missing and the staff was cracking their skulls trying to figure out where exactly everything should go as to not invoke the wrath of Odalia Blight. 

Amity proved to be especially helpful and patient with the poor staff people, since this was her parents' hotel, they were rightfully scared of losing their jobs. But almost an hour had already passed her by and she was nowhere near done, nor on her way to The Owl House as she promised. 

She opened her texts to tell Luz she would be running late, obviously, when her phone rang suddenly, displaying Emira’s picture on her phone. She finally decided to show up.

“Emira where the hell are you?!” Amity whisper-shouted into her phone, as to not startle the staff people around her. 

“Hello to you too, sis.” Emira answered, ever unpreoccupied. “I just got your message, do you still need me at the venue?” 

“An hour late as usual.” Amity said bitterly and sighed to calm down. “I’m at the venue. Everything’s okay now.” 

“Oh, that’s good. Thanks, Mittens!” Emira said, and the peppiness in her voice made Amity’s blood boil. 

“You owe me one. And Edric too.” Amity heard Emira and another voice she didn’t recognize snicker at the other end of the line, which didn’t help her calm down at all. 

“All right, all right.” Emira finally said. “I’ll see you in a few.”

Both of the sisters were about to hang up when an idea crossed amity’s mind. 

“Wait!” She cried, and Emira was on the phone again. 

“Yeah?”

“I’m charging my favor now. Can you pick something up for me?” 

Emira mused it over for a second, effectively stressing Amity out even more, despite both of them knowing she couldn’t refuse. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Like any other day she got to be in charge of the Owl House, Luz was absolutely bored out of her mind. 

The first few times Eda had left her in charge were exciting, she basically had the whole store to herself and she got to interact with all the interesting patrons that visited the store every day. Luz felt like some of her favorite characters, guarding wonderful treasures and running a store that felt almost magical. 

But after a few times, it turned mundane enough. 

It wasn’t all that different than when Eda was with her actually, and it wasn’t a magical store like the ones in the Ghibli movies she liked. 

She would rearrange bookshelves, look through the weirdest pieces of antiques she could find, dust off every possible surface, read a few books and of course ring up patrons, if she ever only saw a handful of customers when Eda left her in charge. 

At least today was a bit different. 

Amity was supposed to stop by and get her coat, for whatever emergency had come up that required it back immediately. 

At any other time, Luz would have offered to drop it off herself, but alas, duty called, and Amity didn’t seem too keen on having Luz drop it off anyway. 

But oh well, at least she got to see the girl she couldn’t stop thinking about, if only for a few minutes. 

Luz knew it was silly to get so excited about someone so quickly, they barely knew each other after all, but she couldn’t help it. After their less than ideal first encounters Luz felt terrible, and all that plagued her mind was making it up to her, now that they were on good terms (understatement) she wanted to keep it like that. The last thing she wanted was Amity thinking she was some weirdo like the people back home.

When Luz’s musings turned a little sour with memories of her old school, the bell at the front door rang, signaling the arrival of a new patron. 

Luz looked up, missing her usual cheeriness to her memorized greeting when she met a familiar pair of golden eyes. 

Not familiar enough though, those belonged to Amity’s older sister. 

“Hey, cutie.” Emira greeted her.

“Oh! Hey, Emira.” Luz tried to hide the disappointment in her voice. Emira was nice, don’t get her wrong, but she was really looking forward to seeing Amity. 

“I’m here to pick something up for Mittens.” The older girl said, eyeing the trinkets around the register.

“Right! Her coat, here it is.” Luz pulled the garment from under the counter, neatly folded. 

She attached a little note to it, a chibi drawing of herself shooting peace signs with the words “sorry” scribbled on a speech bubble, but now that Emira seemed to be the one retrieving the coat, Luz thought best to swipe it out of the pocket where she had hidden it, lest the older Blight found it and used it to tease her little sister.

Emira grabbed it and tucked it under her arm, shooting a quick wink at Luz and a thank you. 

“All good then? Amity mentioned you guys had a Christmas party today.” Luz said, still a bit puzzled over the urgent need for said coat.

“Yeah, I guess you could call it a party.” Emira snickered, but it sounded almost sarcastic. “Mittens gets a bit on edge about these things, don’t worry your little head.” 

That answer didn’t really satisfy Luz, but if her sister said she was fine enough Luz believed her. 

She mentally slapped herself for taking things so seriously again, worrying so much about a girl she barely knows, if anything she could ask Amity how everything went later. 

Emira seemed to pick up on Luz’s doubts.

“Hey, the party is not too far from here, at that posh hotel on 10th. I’ll try to sneak Mittens out to pay you the visit she owes you.” The oldest Blight said, with that devilish grin she and her twin often used. Her offer seemed honest enough though.

“No, no- I mean, it’s okay. You guys probably will be busy. Not like I don’t want to see Amity! but, uhm, you know.” Luz stuttered, desperately looking around at anything to make her blush less apparent.

Emira only laughed in response. 

“Whatever you say, cutie. See you around.” 

Without another word Emira turned around and left, once the front door swung close again, Luz did the only reasonable thing. 

She grabbed a cushion from the chair by the fireplace and screamed her frustrations into it, effectively startling King from his cozy afternoon nap. 

Ah, much better.

  
  
  
  
  
  


“Your favorite sister is here!” Emira sang as she stepped into the foyer. 

Amity appeared shortly after, battling with a pair of earrings and still stressed out of her mind.

“Where were you?!” She asked her sister from atop the staircase, while Emira ascended with the calm of someone who had more than 20 minutes to get ready, which she didn’t.

“Running your errand.” Emira answered unfazed, handing over the thick winter coat to her sister with a quick flick of her hair. 

Amity visibly relaxed and hugged the coat tightly to her chest, letting out a sigh that contained about 4 hours worth of stress. It also helped that the coat still smelled faintly of pine needles and lemons, reminding her of a certain girl, but she wasn’t about to mention that.

“By the way, your little girlfriend was sad you left her hanging.” Emira called back, making her way down the long corridor towards her room.

Amity deflated at the comment, she felt bad about it really, and she was looking forward to seeing Luz, if only for a few minutes. It certainly would have helped with the day she was having, but she could explain herself later.

“She’s not my girlfriend. And I’ll make it up to her later.” Amity said sternly, but Emira kept eyeing her phone unfazed. 

With as much as an incredulous “mhm” in response, Emira disappeared into her room. Amity rolled her eyes and walked back into her own room, looking through the pockets of the coat for the infamous brooch that made her blood pressure skyrocket.

Except, the brooch was nowhere to be found.

“Oh no. Oh no.” Amity muttered.

She had looked through every pocket twice now, she even turned her coat inside out and checked every surface from her bedroom to the hallway in case the piece of jewelry had fallen out of the pockets without her noticing. But it was pointless, the brooch was nowhere to be found. 

But that was impossible, Amity was 100% sure she had left the brooch inside the pocket. It wasn’t in her room, that was sure, Amity had already looked everywhere.

“Oh fuck no!” Amity yelled at the top of her lungs from the hallway, searching every surface in case the brooch had fallen off when Emira handed over the coat.

At the sudden commotion, Edric stepped out of his room, still combing his hair and barely changed into formal attire. “Jeesh Mittens, watch your mouth-”

He was, however, interrupted by his little sister grabbing his shirt collar to lower him enough to meet her frantic gaze, practically foaming at the mouth. 

“The brooch isn’t here!” Amity yelled again. 

They were in trouble.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Luz was getting ready to close the shop for the night, early as Eda instructed, when she heard King growling and munching on something. 

“Whatcha got there, buddy?” Luz asked, kneeling down next to the dog to inspect whatever was between his teeth.

If he damaged another one of Eda’s “treasures” the older woman had promised the front door would have a new fur carpet. This, however, didn’t really look like anything Luz had seen inside the shop. It was small, golden and shiny, and it clanked with every bite King tried to take out of it.

Luz tried to tug it out of the little dog’s mouth, but he simply wasn’t having it, clinging fiercely to it with his fangs. 

“Oh, come on, King!” Luz exclaimed, using both hands to tug at the unknown object.

King growled in response, but after a bit of wrestling with the animal, Luz fell sitting on the carpet around the fireplace, claiming her prize with a victorious cheer while King retrieved to his little bed very much annoyed.

Then Luz could inspect the foreign object better. It was a piece of jewelry, a brooch, very beautiful actually, decorated with gemstones atop a base of solid gold that depicted a coat of arms of sorts, like the ones on her books about medieval Europe. At the bottom of it, the name “Blight” was engraved. 

Luz’s face morphed into pure fear at the realization. This, most likely very very expensive family heirloom, was what Amity needed for the party, not her winter coat, it must have fallen off when she retrieved the letter from the pocket. 

“Oh, no.” 


	9. Chapter 9

**December 22nd, nighttime.**

“This is bad. This is really, really bad.” Luz muttered to herself while she paced in front of the store’s old fireplace. 

King interrupted his nap to look at her from the corner of his right eye, looking annoyed at the frantic teenager. Just when the little dog was about to close his eyes to resume his nap, a pair of brown eyes appeared in front of his face, nose bumping to his little cold nose and startling the animal.

“What if she gets in trouble? What if she’s stressed about it? What if they think I stole it?!” Luz cried again, fidgeting with the piece of jewelry in her hand and beginning to sweat. 

She couldn’t muster the idea of losing something so seemingly expensive and important, and despite everything, the Blights didn’t know that much about Luz. Her stomach churned at the idea of Amity thinking she would steal it or that she was so careless the brooch had gone missing because of her. 

Luz’s expression shifted suddenly from panicked to a very uncharacteristic seriousness. 

“I gotta return it.” She said, standing up from the floor where she had been laying with King.

Luz walked over to the counter where her boots and jacket rested as usual, but when she bent down to put on her boot a pair of little paws tugging at her jeans stopped her. King barked at her, like he was trying to say something along the lines of “where do you think you’re going?”

“This thing is important, King. Amity needs it, she must be really worried.” Luz explained, as if the dog understood her. Although he probably did, because he barked again in protest.

“I know Eda said not to go out but she doesn’t have to know.” Luz finished lacing her boots and she swore King was deadpanning her at her answer. 

“Don’t look at me like that! Emira said the place is near here. We’ll be back in no time.” 

King whined at the last part like he was surprised. Luz disappeared behind the counter again to grab King’s leash, setting the dog off to bark madly at Luz again. 

“Well, I’m not leaving you here alone!” Luz answered, placing both hands on her hips and looking down at the dog. She bent down to hook the leash on his red collar. “Besides, you’re my adventure partner, aren’t you?” 

King stopped barking while Luz finished hooking his leash, avoiding the girl’s gaze as if he was mad about how right she was. 

“Thank you, King!” Luz squealed, shifting the dog up in her arms on a tight hug. He had grown used to it over time. 

Not a second later Luz accidentally dropped him back down, making the dog growl at her again. 

“Sorry.” Luz said with a guilty smile, but it didn’t last long before she was rushing to the door with him. 

“Now let’s go. I’ll text Amity on our way there.”

Luz grabbed her keys, her scarf and the brooch, hanging tightly to it from inside her jacket pocket. She went out the door with more rush than usual, but made sure to lock up, while simultaneously trying to maneuver King, pull out her phone to text Amity and not die at the sudden wave of cold air that washed over her the second she stepped out. 

Locking up was successful, but she had never been good at performing under pressure, and she felt a horrible amount of pressure, almost comparable to her entrance exam to Hexside. King was tugging at her while she tried to put away her keys and write on her phone, rushing her to be over with their little endeavor or to at least get out of the cold. 

She couldn’t really see where she was going, her attention was divided between King, her phone, her keys, and her beanie, hanging precariously from her head that was making it even more difficult to see a thing, until she crashed against something, almost falling to the cold sidewalk. Well, not something, someone. 

“Sorry! Are you o- Viney?” Luz apologized until she noticed her friend, rubbing her arm from the sudden crash. 

“What’s the rush, dude?” Viney asked her before bending down to scratch King’s head, who had gotten in the middle of the crash.

“Sorry, I have to do something right now.” Luz said, so fast it was almost unintelligible.

“Yeah, I can see that.” Viney eyed her for a second, it wasn’t unusual seeing Luz in such a rush, but it was unusual to see her so seemingly stressed. “The weather is crazy, though. Where are you going?” 

“Somewhere.” Luz answered and she instantly cringed at how bad her lying was. 

“Alright…” Viney eyed her warily and then at King, who almost looked like he was doing the same. “Well, stop running around. Do you need a ride?”

Luz should have considered it for a second, she didn’t really want to inconvenience her friend but her mind was set on one thing, getting the brooch to Amity and doing it as fast as possible, besides, being the middle of December the weather was starting to get inconvenient, at least for someone like Luz who had to walk everywhere, with a dog whose legs were about 5 inches long at that. So, without a second thought, Luz agreed; rather, screamed excitedly. 

The pair walked back where Viney had come from, apparently, she was making a late run to The Owl House in hopes they had a book with information she needed for an assignment. Luz assured her that she could get all of the books inside the bookstore if she got her where she was going as fast as possible. 

Huh, perhaps Eda was right about Luz being way too lenient about gifting her books.

Luz got inside Viney’s old van, the same she and her parents used for their family veterinary business and the same Viney usually borrowed to get around the city. 

“So, where are we going?” Viney asked the other girl, starting up the engine that sounded like it was complaining about the effort. 

“Yeah, about that…” Luz trailed off.

“Oh no.” Viney was starting to regret her offer. If she knew Luz enough, this was another of her “shenanigans”. 

“Okay, I’m not exactly sure where it is, but I have to get to some posh hotel on 10th.” Viney thought it through for a second. 

“Luz, there’s like 5 hotels on that street alone. Can you give me anything else?” 

Luz went over her conversation with Emira again inside her head, trying to remember if she had given her any other detail, but she hadn’t. After Luz shot her friend an apologetic smile, Viney set her phone’s GPS for the street Luz had instructed. This was going to be a matter of trial and error it seemed. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The Blight siblings had settled on a quick plan when Amity stated that they were, in fact, screwed, to put it plainly. 

As Edric had stated to Emira in private, technically the twins wouldn’t be in trouble since they hadn’t taken any part in losing Amity’s brooch and had, technically, prepared everything for the Gala as instructed. Perhaps a few years ago they would have simply left their little sister to fend for herself, but things had changed, even more after Edric and Emira graduated. A few years ago Amity wouldn’t have even gone through the trouble of helping them set everything up for the event, and so the twins simply refused to let their sister be punished for something so stupid, especially if they still could do something about it. 

It was too late for any of them to run to The Owl House, since they had to be the firsts at the venue to welcome the guests and most importantly, their parents, for one final inspection before the event started. The trio was very careful not to let Amity too close to their parents, so they wouldn’t notice the missing accessory. At the first chance, any of the siblings could get, one of them would run down to The Owl House and get the brooch from Luz while the others covered for them.

They had a time limit though, after all the guests had been entertained it would be time for the annual family photo, and they would never get past Odalia Blight’s keen eye for detail. 

Amity on her part had never felt so stressed out in her life, this wasn’t like her. She never misplaced anything, she never forgot anything, and always double-checked, just to avoid these sorts of inconveniences. Thankfully, she knew how to play it cool when she needed to, a most needed ability for a Blight. Except when it came to her crush on Luz, but that's beside the point. 

Despite being most focused on avoiding her parents throughout the party, somehow Amity couldn’t stop thinking about Luz, and about how despite everything she felt bad about lying to her and not even apologizing for not going to The Owl House when she said she would, she secretly hoped for a window of opportunity of her own so she could scurry away form the party to get the brooch herself, but alas, a ping from her cellphone told her it just wasn’t in her cards. 

**Edric: I’m done with guests, omw to the owl shack.**

Amity sighed at her phone with a strange mixture of relief and disappointment, also a bit of frustration at Edric for referring to the place as “the owl shack”. Sadly, things couldn’t go so smoothly for the Blights.

**Emira: Code red. Mom is looking for Amity.**

“What?!” Amity cried to herself, startling a nearby waiter. 

She would be embarrassed, if she wasn’t too busy worrying and sweating. What did her mother need from her? Didn’t matter. She couldn’t see her, not with the obviously missing piece of jewelry. 

Amity clutched tightly to her phone and started looking around the venue, scanning the mass of black-tie suits in precaution, lest her mother found her unprepared. 

A hand on her shoulder startled Amity, making her almost drop her phone, but at least she knew it wasn’t the cold, perfectly manicured hand she was dreading. 

“Whoa, chill Mittens.” Emira said, sounding much more relaxed than she actually was, Amity noticed. 

“You almost scared me to death.” Amity sighed annoyed. 

“I know.” Her annoyance grew even more at Emira’s snickering. “Here.”

Before Amity could scowl at her even more Emira placed something on her hand. 

Her brooch. 

“What is this for?” Amity asked, but she could see the glint of an idea in her sister’s eyes. 

“I’ll go to The Owl House. Meanwhile, you are going to entertain mom, if I don’t come back in time just keep my brooch.” That calm tone Emira always used almost softened the weight of her words, almost. 

Amity eyed the piece of jewelry for a second and then looked up at her sister. Her plan was actually brilliant, the twins had always been quick thinkers, but also terrible at measuring the weight of possible risks. Then again, she read her sister’s expression and knew they didn’t have many options, or rather none other option at all. 

Edric’s brooch was different, smaller for a suit lapel, the only brooch similar to her’s was her mother’s and Emira’s. 

“No, then you’ll get in trouble if you don’t come back in time.” Amity said sternly. 

“I’m always in trouble either way, Mittens.” Emira answered, her expression turned grim for just a second, but Amity caught it. 

“But this wasn’t your fault.” Amity protested again. Her sister would not take the fall for her, she wouldn’t allow it. 

“I’ll be back on time, no worries.” Emira booped her nose, like she always did when she wanted to get a rise out of Amity, or in this case, distract her. 

Amity wanted to protest some more, but Emira beat her to it by placing the brooch on her dress, over her heart for that absurd symbolism their parents held so dear. A text from Edric indicated the conversation was over, and Emira had made her choice. 

**Edric: Distracting dad. Mom is on her way to u.**

“That's my cue. Make sure mom stays busy.” Emira instructed and waltzed away, but Amity stopped her for a second, grabbing her hand before she could disappear into the crowd. 

“Thanks, Em.” She muttered and Emira swore she was looking at a 6-year-old Mittens again, when she would sneak cookies from the kitchen for the three of them or when Amity would go to her when schoolwork would become too confusing. 

Emira shook the feeling away. Weird. 

“You owe me.” Emira said before disappearing between the crowd. Amity rolled her eyes fondly at her. She did owe them both. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


“It’s not that one either.” Luz said while stepping back into Viney’s van, rubbing her hands together for warmth. 

Viney and King sighed, or he did as much as a dog is able to do so.

“Ok, next one.” Viney pulled back down the street, carefully searching for the next hotel on their list. 

They had been to 3 venues already, but up to now, it had been useless. No one knew anything about a Christmas party under the name Blight, nor had anyone seen a girl with green hair around. Luz could have honestly gone into detail about Amity’s amazing fashion sense or piercing hazel eyes, but the weird looks the front desk workers were given her from the second she opened her mouth told her it would be unnecessary. 

She had of course filled Viney up as best as she could on their little adventure, considering they had some time to kill due to the traffic that usually plagued the city around this hour. Besides, if Luz tried to sit in silence she would have probably stepped out of the van and dash down the remaining blocks, which were quite a few. 

Viney found the whole thing sweet, very Luz actually, going to such lengths for someone she barely knew, especially being a crush. 

“But wait, do I know them? Does she go to Hexside?” Viney asked her curiously. 

“Oh, she does. Her brother and sister used to, too.” Luz quickly explained. 

It honestly piqued at Viney’s natural curiosity, but before Luz could give any more details they reached their next destination, another fancy-schmancy hotel, possibly the tallest building they had gone through until now and positively crawling with people in fancy attire rushing inside. 

"Wish me luck!" Luz said, like the last 3 times. 

Without another word she opened the car door and dashed up to the lobby of the hotel, ignoring Viney's advice of waiting for her to pull up to the curve or something. 

Viney sighed again and parked the van, then pulled out her phone to wait for the younger girl to come back again, this time hopefully after succeeding. Never a dull moment with her friend, at least. 

The second Viney found herself accommodating on her seat to relax for a few minutes, King started barking desperately at her, startling her immediately.

“King, it’s freezing outside. I’m not taking you out.” Viney told the little dog, focusing back on her phone screen. 

But King only barked and growled harder, and when the veterinary student, who had tons of experience with loud dogs decided to ignore him, King did the next best thing and jumped to the front sit, landing on Viney’s lap and almost knocking the air out of her with its little paws.

“King!” Viney complained, but King only insisted, tugging at her sweater sleeve to take Viney's attention to the passenger seat. 

There laid Luz’s discarded beanie, a few old papers Vney should throw away soon and a golden brooch. 

Wait. 

“Oh fuck.” 

King seemed to agree to that statement with a whine. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


Emira had never been too athletic, only the bare minimum to appease her mother and leaving the rest to the hopeless jock her little sister was, but the crazy sprint the teenager got to the second she set foot away from the party was something a few track runners could envy. 

The air was cold and it would only get colder as the night progressed, so Emira held tightly to her winter coat and thanked her common sense for choosing the shortest heels on her closet for the evening. 

She had about 20 minutes to get to The Owl House, retrieve the brooch  **again,** and be back before her parents noticed. 

“Why the hell am I doing this?” Emira asked herself when a cold breeze made her shiver down to her bones. 

Then, as she had asked for a sign, a memory flashed across her mind. A little Amity ran crying up to her big sister one Christmas morning, she was sad because their parents had forgotten that year to leave them their usual presents before disappearing all the way across the globe. 

Amity must have been about 7 years old and her little mind swore that Santa had forgotten about her and her siblings. 

Edric and Emira took about half an hour to calm their little sister enough to give some sort of explanation to their sister, about how Santa was only a bit late that year and that they had to be patient. In the meantime, Edric had one of his best and simultaneously worst ideas ever, making hot chocolate. Nevermind that the twins were only 9 years old at the time and neither had even set foot in the kitchen if only to grab a snack. 

The mess they made that afternoon was something to be remembered, mostly by the kitchen staff that had to clean everything up, but it was also Emira’s most cherished Christmas memory. 

After that year things started to change between the siblings. By the time Amity was 11 and the twins reached adolescence they spent less and less time with their sister, only to poke fun at her or prank her. One day, they had finally gone a bit too far. 

They were almost 16 at the time and their pranks had evolved. Amity had also changed, choosing that she had had enough with the twins’ recklessness and ratting them out to their parents every chance she had. Edric and Emira decided to take matters into their own hands, taking as sound a decision as a 16-year-old in the bloom of teenage rebellion would and stole Amity’s diary. 

The original plan was to post some of the most embarrassing excerpts from it on social media for all to see, but Amity had stopped them in time, effectively burning her own diary in a desperate attempt to prevent the twins from publishing anything from it. Emira wouldn’t know it until almost a year later, but the diary not only contained embarrassing fanart of that nerdy book Mittens liked so much, but her struggles with discovering she was a lesbian. 

If their parents were to find out, well...

After the incident, Amity took solace only on her books and the twins grew more and more reckless. Their relationship was never the same after that. 

She had never discussed it with Edric, but she regretted most of her choices from thereon. All that teenage rebellion that only got them in trouble with their parents, the ever-growing distance with her little sister, and only realizing it the year before the twins were supposed to go away to college. 

They were all better now, after long talks and the twins continuously proving themselves trustworthy to their little sister again, but there was still some work to be done.

All those memories took Emira by surprise, if she dwelled too hard on it all she usually started feeling sick. 

Thankfully, a familiar door knocker took her out of her trance. 

She had made it to The Owl House, on record time at that.

“Alright. Thank you, brain.” Emira said to herself, mentally scolding herself for getting so lost in her memories and then immediately after talking to herself. 

But she could deal with that later. She had bigger problems now. 

Every light inside the store and on every floor on top of it seemed to be turned off. Emira tried to look inside the store from what the window allowed, but there didn’t seem to be anyone inside. 

She tried dialing Luz’s number a few times, to no avail. 

“Oh fuck.” 


End file.
